The Forgotten Queen

Warrior Queen #1

by Haley Elizabeth Garwood

Relates the story of Matilda, the daughter of Henry I of England, and her efforts to regain the throne that was stolen from her

Genres: Historical Fiction, Medieval, Fiction, Medieval History, Historical, British Literature

420 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Haley Elizabeth Garwood (born 25 April 1940) is an American historical novelist. She has worked as an airline stewardess and as a teacher of special education students. After her retirement as a high school principal in West Virginia, she began to write full time.

At present she has four completed novels in her Warrior Queen Series about women warriors. She also teaches literature at university. After Rani of Jhansi, she will be searching for an "African Queen" series.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story of Matilda of England is a fascinating subject but the first rule of a historical novel is to be true to the historical facts as they are known. This novel has the Empress Matilda returning to England and meeting her father King Henry for the first time since she was a child. In fact, this took place in Normandy. She is struck with an arrow while hunting. It never happened. She has a love affair with Stephen of Blois, an absurd invention. She marries Geoffrey of Anjou in England. The marriage was actually in Anjou where she lived with him for a year before returning to Normandy. When she rejoins Geoffrey it is in Normandy (it was really in Anjou). She kills a knight with her archery (never happened). Henry II (her son)turns out to be Stephen's child! Henry I dies with his wife in England (he was in Normandy). Although given the crown by the Bishop of Winchester, no coronation ever took place, as it does in the book. And on top of all this and more, she is repeatedly referred to as "king". Something no one would have done at any time.
A really interesting story is thus falsified. Of course there are wonderful passages such as "Take me again, William. I want a warrior to make love to me. I want to ride to the throne on you."
I can't wait for Haley's next book where she will show us that Theodore Roosevelt was actually the illegitimate son of Abraham Lincoln and that Mary Todd Lincoln held nightly trysts in a forest outside Washington with Robert E. Lee.

[Sara G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book quite a bit on its own, but unfortunately it strays too far from history while telling the story of Matilda and Stephen. The author posits that those two were actually ex-lovers, and that Henry II was Stephen's son. Ridiculous. As a story about imagined kings and queens, it works, but there was no attempt made at historical accuracy.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!!! I love the way it was written! One can not help but root for the heroine and to root for the enemies demise!!! Ready to move on to book 2 !!!!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow-moving. Could have been more interesting/exciting.

Matilda is the daughter of King Henry I of England. Married to the Holy Roman Emperor at a very young age, she returns home after his death only to be married to the Count of Anjou. With no living sons, Henry plans to make her his heir.

She has an affair with her cousin Stephen, who later usurps her throne. England is plunged into civil war as she tries to get her throne back--first for herself, and later for her (and Stephen's) son--the future Henry II. In the end, Stephen agrees to make Henry his heir, and Stephen is allowed to remain king.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I didn’t know much about the actual historical facts I probably could’ve guessed some of it was a little crazy. Lol I liked the story in general and I was interested to see someone speak of Matilde but I had a hard time with the writing in some places. So much detail about some things that seemed unimportant (parties, floor coverings, meals, etc) when compared to a jump in and out of major events like the death of important characters. Anyway, I liked the book well enough but not sure if I want to invest time in the series yet.

[M Williamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted this to be good, but it wasn't. I learned a lot along the way, but the author dropped major threads of information, jumping from plot point to plot point without explaining the events along the way. There were large time jumps without so much as a summary of the political happenings during that period. Also, the author dwelled far too much on Matilda's feelings (which I could stomach more if it were better written).

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have three Garwood novels and have loved them all. This is my fourth and technically it was her first novel and perhaps that's why this one stinks.

Knowing what I do about England in the 12th century, I find this way too preposterous to enjoy it. I respect an author's right to take historical facts and "play" with them, but to take a king's daughter and make her a little snot who blantantly has an affair with her cousin and speaks disrespectfully to her father, the king, is too much. Mathilda is very full of herself and very adamant that everyone else follow proper court etiquette but she has the gal to argue with the king, sleep with her cousin, spurn her own husband, and act like a petulant child most of the time, kicking stools and stamping her foot. This is an empress? Mathilda herself is constantly reminding readers of her empress title but I fail to see anything queenly in her behavior.

The prose is awful. The characters speak much like children and the love talk is the worst. When Stephen tells Mathilda he worships the ground she walks on.. my eyes rolled around so much, I was afraid they would get stuck.

Do check out this same author's Zenobia. If you read this one first, you may never read the rest and the rest are winners.

[She Reads What? · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like it, so far. It's definitely proved more intriguing than the programming on TV for the last few nights, and by now I am sucked into the plot, not the least of all by the author's eye for detail. However, I started reading with the understanding that I was reading historical fiction, as opposed to non-fiction, so the fact that there are inaccuracies doesn't bother me. Again, historical fiction still means fiction. That's not a bash at the author or the book, as I'm really enjoying it, I'm simply saying that as one doesn't pick up The National Enquirer for news, don't pick up historical fiction looking for factual information...at the finish, left wanting more. There was a big gap between the end of the story, and the epilogue (not unusual) but it was too much for my tastes. Still a pretty good read.

[Carrie Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but maybe because I love historical fiction, especially when I feel pushed to dig around for more information and learn about the actual background. But it felt like I was doing the research for this book and the author was simply making an attempt to personally tweek every aspect of everything that happened and every person that existed in this story. From the physical attributes of Henry I, to Matilde's relationship with Geoffrey, to trying to pass off Henry II as Stephan's son generously raised by Geoffrey...I'm just at a loss. Unfortunately, Matilde was not as 'forgotten' as the author might have hoped in creating who she wanted us to see her as. Most annoying was the inane way that historical tidbits were introduced into conversation in the most stilted ways. Not exactly sure why I finished it.

[Amy Mallison-austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book, I found it to be an incredibly slow read. Twelfth century British history is a fascinating topic, and this story covered the basics of Henry I's daughter taking over the throne. However, the details were highly fictionalized, which is fine, as it is a novel, not a history text. If you want to know the facts, do some research.

[Rene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am going to be doing some history research now. It is truley a heart wrenching story.

[Teaberry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I gave it a fair chance, reading a good 130+ pages, but had to just give up...bored bored bored by the mediocre prose and pacing. A shame.

[Joan Horkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and enjoyable. Story of Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, mother of Henry II.

[Kathy]

Slow in the beginning, nice to see how the Henry line started. However where did we go wrong with Henry the VIII? How unlike the other Henry's in the line.

[Amber Medley]

It took me WAY too long to get through this. ugh. Matilda... what a BRAT! ugh.