Red Queen, White Queen

Celtic Tetralogy #3

by Henry Treece

In his new novel Henry Treece takes as his subject the insurrection of the British queen, Boudicca (Boadicea), in the year 61 A.D. This bloody upheaval, caused by the unjust demands of Nero, resulted in the deaths of some seventy-thousand Romans and their ‘collaborators’. Colchester and St. Albans were gutted and London reduced to ashes.

Against this background, Henry Treece sets his hero, Gemellus, a young Roman soldier who is sent out on a mission which might make or break him. His love for Eithne, a British girl, gives rise to a poignant division of loyalties, of a kind that soldiers have known throughout history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Fantasy, Roman Britain

209 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Henry Treece (1911-1966) was a British poet and writer, who also worked as a teacher and editor. He wrote a range of works but is mostly remembered as a writer of children's historical novels.

Reviews

[Dfordoom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Queen, White Queen, published in 1958, was one of historical novelist Henry Treece’s better known books. As Michael Moorcock, a great admirer of his work, says in the introduction “There is little overt ‘magic’ in these tales, yet the magic – the mystery – permeates them.” The novel deals with Boudicca’s revolt against the Romans in 61 A.D., although it really deals more with the fates of a number of relatively unimportant people whose lives are changed forever by these events. Treece was especially good at dealing with periods of transition, where one civilisation was declining and giving way to another that was on the rise, and also with people whose loyalties were divided as a result. Most of his historical novels deal with Celtic themes. He was very good at bringing pre-Christian societies to life, without glamorising them or overly romanticising them. In Red Queen, White Queen he focuses on Gemellus, a Roman soldier, a British princeling called Duatha and Eithne, daughter of the king of the Catuvellauni. In Boudicca herself he has created an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary woman, a woman who is very much a barbarian but also very much a queen.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading Henry Treece and Nigel Tranter novels when I was at high school and how much I enjoyed the tales.
You were always thrown back in time and with out really knowing it taken on a bit of a history lesson.
I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the tale, I was not to keen on the lead character but there was enough happening to keep you wanting to find out how it all ends.
At times the dialogue seemed a bit stilted but it is a minor quibble. It is a well paced story, lots of action, a bit of romance and what more could you want.

[Tony Tubb · Rating 4 out of 5]

With his usual elegance, Treece shows us Boudica's AD 60-61 revolt from the perspective of a pair of Roman soldiers sent to kill her. Suspenseful, informative, emotional, tightly written.

[Rhys Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

High 3. Not sure about last chapter.

[billibob · Rating 2 out of 5]

someone keep the words sardonic, ironic, and mocking away from this man. In fact Treece's fondness for repetition could be the bases of a great drinking game. Every time one of the above mentioned words appear readers should take a shot or whenever Boudicca's breasts are mentioned because boy! Boudicca and her boobs were the talk of the town it seemed. Any time Boudicca is mentioned it is almost a prerequisite her breasts must be mentioned too. I couldn't tell when the line was crossed but it definitely had to be when Lady Lavinia talks of hearing rumours about Boudicca's breasts being as big as pillows, that was a bit much lol.

I tried to excuse certain stereotypes and misogyny because of time and all but just the same it did not make for a good reading time. Especially the need to describe Clarissa, a black character as an evil little gremlin lmao or the Arab as a barbarian with no thinking skills. On the matter of misogyny, it is very hard to ignore the characterisation of women and how they were represented in the book. Boudicca was described as a magnificent yet power hungry creature, whose physical description along with every other characters view of her were negative for the most part. I'm not impervious to the subliminal message Treece was going for as Gemellus does name a daughter after Boudicca and realises war is bad and learns to let go of his pride and prejudices towards Celts. But this was all very one dimensional, from Boudicca being treated like a piece of shit, constantly described as someone cruel, insatiable and gross, to suddenly becoming worthy of Gemellus's favour was just too sudden. And Eithne was a foolish girl who was written very foolishly. Duatha was right when he called her a 'Celtic bitch', 'a witch', 'strumpet'. WHY was she on the journey with them it never made sense, Bran was supposed to lead them to Boudicca's encampment or something and she decides to tag along for funsies. And then on this very serious rescue mission takes off all her clothes and tries to seduce Gemellus why???? you've known each other for 5 seconds miss. Without her, the Arab and the Druid would have been alive as it was partly because of her that they were stopped

In any case, it was an okay book. Written well in terms of historical facts/details and atmosphere. On that point the book is a 4/5 stars. It really sets the scene and pulls you in and you are genuinely disappointed that the book is not long enough. But because of the basic-ness of the characters and the somewhat stilted relationship they all had because none of it was fully fleshed out it's a 2/5.

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in Britain during the rebellion led by Boudicca, a local queen, a few decades into the Roman occupation. The main character is a Roman soldier sent along with his British half-brother to assassinate Boudicca. I was more aware of historical implausibilities in this book than in The Green Man, probably because I know more about Roman than early Germanic history, but they, and the stylized dialogue, don't sit as well in this historical setting as they do in a semi-mythical one. I'm not talking about big things, just some anachronistic attitudes. For example, the main character attaches a lot more importance to his father's presumed monogamy, at least while married, than I think an ancient Roman normally would have, and the Roman army is supposedly imposing Mithraism as something like an official religion, with very little mention of the Roman state religion which I would have expected to be more prominent. And the plot is cliche after cliche. But the morals drawn are broadly anti-nationalist and (pessimistically) pacifist, and on those issues if no others this book seems ahead of its time (1956) more often than behind.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tale of Boudicca