18 ratings | 10 reviews | avg rating:4.33

Margaret’s Year In Books

Margaret’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Margaret’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Margaret’s 2025 Year in Books

Margaret George’s Followers (2,918)

Margaret’s Bookshelves

to-read (0)
currently-reading (1)
read (21)
my-favorite-books (3)

Margaret’s Friends (44)

Kelly Kulhavy

1,144 books | 85 friends

meg

1,860 books | 30 friends

Kelly

752 books | 12 friends

Sara Estrada

44,542 books | 1,562 friends

Stephanie Miceli

1,092 books | 110 friends

Natasa

33,375 books | 968 friends

Leslie Lindsay

2,257 books | 300 friends

Rae-Rae

1,063 books | 17 friends

More friends…

Margaret George

Goodreads Author

Born

in Nashville, Tennessee, The United States

Website

http://www.margaretgeorge.com/

Genre

Historical Fiction

Member Since

June 2016

edit data

Margaret George is a rolling stone who has lived in many places, beginning her traveling at the age of four when her father joined the U.S. diplomatic service and was posted to a consulate in Taiwan. The family traveled on a freighter named after Ulysses' son Telemachus that took thirty days to reach Taiwan, where they spent two years. Following that they lived in Tel Aviv (right after the 1948 war, when it was relatively quiet), Bonn and Berlin (during the spy-and-Cold-War days) before returning--at the height of Elvis-mania--to Washington DC, where Margaret went to high school. Margaret's first piece of published writing, at the age of thirteen, was a letter to TIME Magazine defending Elvis against his detractors. (Margaret has since been Margaret George is a rolling stone who has lived in many places, beginning her traveling at the age of four when her father joined the U.S. diplomatic service and was posted to a consulate in Taiwan. The family traveled on a freighter named after Ulysses' son Telemachus that took thirty days to reach Taiwan, where they spent two years. Following that they lived in Tel Aviv (right after the 1948 war, when it was relatively quiet), Bonn and Berlin (during the spy-and-Cold-War days) before returning--at the height of Elvis-mania--to Washington DC, where Margaret went to high school. Margaret's first piece of published writing, at the age of thirteen, was a letter to TIME Magazine defending Elvis against his detractors. (Margaret has since been to Graceland.)

But it was earlier in Israel that Margaret, an avid reader, began writing novels to amuse herself when she ran out of books to read. Interestingly, the subject of these was not what lay around her in the Middle East, but the American west, which she had never set foot in. (Now that she lives in the American Midwest she writes about the Middle East!) Clearly writing in her case followed Emily Dickinson's observation "There is no frigate like a book" and she used it to go to faraway places. Now she has added another dimension to that travel by specializing in visiting times remote from herself.

Neither of these horse sagas got published, but the ten-year-old author received an encouraging note from an editor at Grosset & Dunlap, telling her she had a budding talent but should work on her spelling.

It was also in Israel that Margaret started keeping land tortoises as pets, an interest which she still follows today. She had a great affinity for animals and nature and that led her to a double major at Tufts University in English literature and biology. Following that she received an MA in ecology from Stanford University--one of the earliest departments to offer such a concentration. Today she is active in environmental and animal conservation groups.

Combining her interests led her to a position as a science writer at the National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health) in Bethesda, Maryland for four years.

Her marriage at the end of that time meant moving, first to St. Louis, then to Uppsala, Sweden, and then to Madison, Wisconsin, where she and her husband Paul have lived for more than twenty years now. They have one grown daughter who lives in California and is in graduate school.

Through all this Margaret continued to write, albeit slowly and always on only one project at a time. She wrote what she refers to as her 'Ayn Rand/adventure novel' in college and her 'Sex and the City' novel in Washington DC. It was in St. Louis that she suddenly got the idea of writing a 'psycho-biography' of Henry VIII. She had never seen such a thing done but became convinced the king was a victim of bad PR and she should rescue his good name. Her background in science meant that only after thoroughly researching the literature and scholarship on Henry VIII would she embark on the novel itself. She sought the guidance of a Tudor historian at Washington University for a reading list, and proceeded from there.

It was actually fourteen years between her initial idea and the publication of The Autobiography of Henry VIII. The book made an impression for several reasons: first, because no one had ever written a novel sympathetic to the king before; second, because it covered his entire life from before birth until after his death, making it almost a thousand pages long, and third, because it was so fact-filled.

...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Margaret George questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Margaret George’s books

Average rating: 4.11 · 100,396 ratings · 6,588 reviews · 74 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers 4.26 avg rating — 28,838 ratings — published 1986 — 56 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Memoirs of Cleopatra 4.19 avg rating — 21,477 ratings — published 1997 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mary Queen of Scotland and The Isles 4.09 avg rating — 14,954 ratings — published 1992 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Helen of Troy 3.95 avg rating — 12,083 ratings — published 2006 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mary, Called Magdalene 3.90 avg rating — 9,173 ratings — published 2002 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Elizabeth I 3.97 avg rating — 6,945 ratings — published 2011 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Confessions of Young Nero (Nero, #1) 3.90 avg rating — 3,924 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Splendor Before the Dark (Nero, #2) 3.96 avg rating — 1,347 ratings — published 2018 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Filha de Ísis (As Memórias de Cleópatra, Parte 1/3) by Margaret George (Goodreads Author), Sérgio Gonçalves (Translator) 4.15 avg rating — 716 ratings — published 1997 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	O Signo de Afrodite (Memoirs of Cleopatra #2) by Margaret George (Goodreads Author), Sérgio Gonçalves (Translator) 4.28 avg rating — 464 ratings — published 1998 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Margaret George…

20 posts
Margaret George's Blog

A Note on Margaret’s Blog

Margaret is no longer blogging at this time, but you can enjoy some of her terrific posts through the years. Please enjoy!

View more on Margaret George's website »

4 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on September 16, 2016 16:06

View all 20 posts »

Series by Margaret George

Nero (2 books)
by

Margaret George (Goodreads Author)

3.92 avg rating — 5,271 ratings

Memoirs of Cleopatra (3 books)
by

Margaret George (Goodreads Author),

Sérgio Gonçalves (Translator)

4.23 avg rating — 1,492 ratings

Helen of Troy (2 books)
by

Margaret George (Goodreads Author),

Isabel Penteado (Tradução)

3.96 avg rating — 195 ratings

Mary, Called Magdalene (2 books)
by

Margaret George (Goodreads Author)

3.84 avg rating — 95 ratings

Autobiografia de Henrique VIII (5 books)
by

Margaret George (Goodreads Author)

4.89 avg rating — 9 ratings

More series by Margaret George…

Margaret is Currently Reading

Margaret George is currently reading

The Confessions of Young Nero (Nero, #1)

by Margaret George (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Apr 12, 2017 04:56PM

rss
Margaret’s Recent Updates

Margaret George rated a book really liked it SON (The Kari Voss Mysteries) by Johana Gustawsson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 23, 2025 08:13PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of SON by Johana Gustawsson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — SON by Johana Gustawsson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Margaret George has read Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 19, 2025 08:06PM · 4 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Margaret George rated a book did not like it First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 07, 2025 09:43PM · 7 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Margaret's books…

Quotes by Margaret George (?)

“So I learned two things that night, and the next day, from him: the perfection of a moment, and the fleeting nature of it.”
― Margaret George, The Memoirs of Cleopatra

tags: cleopatra, epiphany, fiction, journey, life, loss, love, relationships

356 likes

“It is almost impossible to describe happiness, because at the time it feels entirely natural, as if all the rest of your life has been the aberration; only in retrospect does it swim into focus as the rare and precious thing it is. When it is present, it seems to be eternal, abiding forever, and there is no need to examine it or clutch it. Later, when it has evaporated, you stare in dismay at your empty palm, where only a little of the perfume lingers to prove that once it was there, and now is flown.”
― Margaret George, The Memoirs of Cleopatra

82 likes

“The cure for a broken heart is simple, my lady. A hot bath and a good night's sleep.”
― Margaret George, Mary Queen of Scotland and The Isles

tags: broken-heart, comforting-thought

63 likes

See all Margaret George's quotes »

Polls

What book about the Tudors or Tudor England would you like to read in September 2015?

The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory

16 votes, 24.2%

Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

8 votes, 12.1%

Elizabeth I by Margaret George

7 votes, 10.6%

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

7 votes, 10.6%

The Red Queen's Daughter by Jacqueline Kolosov

6 votes, 9.1%

Watch the Lady by Elizabeth Fremantle

6 votes, 9.1%

Firedrake's Eye by Patricia Finney

6 votes, 9.1%

Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne by David Starkey

4 votes, 6.1%

Gilt by Katherine Longshore

3 votes, 4.5%

The May Bride: A Novel by Suzannah Dunn

3 votes, 4.5%

In the Shadow of Lady Jane by Edward Charles

0 votes, 0.0%

The Queen's Cross by Lawrence Schoonover

0 votes, 0.0%

66 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
European Royalty: Nov 15 - Dec 15: Nominating	16	51	Oct 31, 2008 07:09PM
European Royalty: Nov. 15 - Dec. 15: Voting - Updated	8	98	Nov 05, 2008 06:48AM
The Next Best Boo...: Historical Fiction Advice	111	1595	Jun 09, 2009 05:22PM
European Royalty: Sept 1 - Oct 1: Mary, Called Magdalene	1	21	Jul 23, 2009 01:52PM
100+ Books in 2025: Susan's 100+ Reading Challenge	93	563	Dec 30, 2009 02:32PM
A History of Royals: New Member	47	71	Jan 15, 2010 09:57AM

More…

Margaret’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.

Margaret’s Year In Books

Margaret George’s Followers (2,918)

Add New
Videos

Margaret’s Bookshelves

Margaret’s Friends (44)

Margaret George

Goodreads Author

Learn more
Ask the Author

Popular Answered Questions

Combine Editions
Margaret George’s books

20 posts
Margaret George's Blog

A Note on Margaret’s Blog

Series by Margaret George

Margaret is Currently Reading

rss
Margaret’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — SON by Johana Gustawsson

See a Problem?

Preview — Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

See a Problem?

Preview — First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Margaret’s Friend Comments

Margaret George’s Followers (2,918)

Margaret George

Goodreads Author

Popular Answered Questions

rssMargaret’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — SON by Johana Gustawsson

See a Problem?

Preview — Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

See a Problem?

Preview — First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

rss
Margaret’s Recent Updates