Deborah Pickstone's Reviews > The Winter Queen

There WAS some whispering that Elizabeth, The Winter Queen, had secretly married again but this version is so unlikely as to be preposterous. So, historically - forget it. With that in mind, however, it is a well-constructed tale and reads both easily and engagingly. It's a nice idea; an optimistic dream....then I saw it becomes a trilogy and the third part reaches the Frankly Barking Mad category, so I will no more.

Historical fiction is a difficult beast - is the emphasis on 'historical' or on 'fiction'? To my mind the story must at least be possible - believable - with regard to the historical context. Otherwise it is simply fiction or belongs in the fantasy genre - a clear example of that is A Natural History of Dragons. Thus I deduce that the emphasis is on 'historical' rather than 'fiction' as that is the genre. If it wants to be fiction or fantasy or whatever it can be - but it should not call itself 'historical' if it isn't at least possible.

Pelagius would have been considered a witch in the real historical context and the rest of it would have been so profoundly shocking it cannot be overstated - not to mention the number of cultural and personal mindsets a very proper princess, deeply conscious of her rank, would have had to ride roughshod over to even feel an attraction. And probably that would have been true of him also. In fact, the number of cultural liberties taken in the context of that time-frame is quite breathtaking.