|
d187298
|
She never showed Henry the strain she suffered. She remained for him the fascinating woman she had always been. She would show him her temper if he crossed her, quick enough. But she never showed him her fear. She never showed her fear to anyone but to George and me. Henry had her sweetness and her charm and her flirtatiousness. Even eight months with child Anne could flick her eyes sideways in a way which would make a man catch his breath...
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
e407c03
|
I have loved you for years," she cried after him. "I gave my womanhood to you. Tell me, in what way have I offended you? What have I ever done which was displeasing?" --
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
ee2b06e
|
I tried! God knows, Henry! I tried! I bore you a son, that he did not live was no fault of mine. God wanted our little prince in heaven; that was no fault of mine." The"
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
f7ced0b
|
It might be that marriage was not the death of a woman and the end of her true self, but the unfolding of her. It might be that a woman could be a wife without having to cut the pride and the spirit out of herself. A woman might blossom into being a wife, not be trimmed down to fit.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
77fae91
|
terrible roar,
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
65f26fd
|
What will happen when I am old and I can dance no more?
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
f7388f3
|
I had never before lain with a man who had loved me completely, for myself, and it was a dizzy experience. I had never lain with a man whose touch I adored without any need to hide my adoration, or exaggerate it, or adjust it at all. I simply loved him as if he were my one and only lover, and he loved me too with the same simplicity of appetite and desire which made me wonder what I thought I had been doing all those years when I had been d..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
3a3e734
|
It is for your daughter," she said. "For Jane. To sit on. She seems not to have a seat of her own but she must borrow mine." There"
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
6b32eee
|
She did not look like my sister, she did not look like any mortal woman at all. She carried herself as if she were the greatest queen that had ever been born. We
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
2bd7ade
|
When she looked down the hall at Anne and at me it was as if she looked straight through us, as if we were nothing but clear panes of Venetian glass and all she wanted to know was what might be beyond. She did not seem to envy us, nor see us as rivals to her father's attention or even as a danger to her mother's place. She saw us as a pair of light women, so insubstantial that the wind might blow us away in a merciful puff. She
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
0632f60
|
Is that it?" he demanded, in sudden rage. "Is that all that matters? Not that I am in love and tumbled like a fool into sin. Not that I can never be happy, married to a snake and in love with a heartbreaker, but only, only, that Mistress Anne Boleyn's reputation must be without blemish." At once she flew at him, her hands spread like claws, and he caught her wrists before she could rake his face. "Look at me!" she hissed. "Didn't I give up ..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
cf012a5
|
He is a sodomite, and my sister is a whore, and perhaps a poisoner, and I am a whore. My uncle has been the falsest of friends, my father a time-server, my mother--God knows--some even say she had the king before the two of us! All of this you knew or you could have deduced. Now tell me, am I good enough for you? For I knew that you were a nobody and I came to find you all the same. If you want to rise to be a somebody in this court you wil..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
ef58c7a
|
I am too young to understand that a man and a woman can love each other so deeply that their hearts beat as if they were one heart, and yet, know that they are utterly and hopelessly different.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
100b897
|
That she is a witch and has enchanted the king by sorcery. That she is a murderess and would poison the queen if she could. That she has made him impotent with all other women so he has to marry her. That she blasted the children in the queen's womb and put barrenness on the throne of England." George"
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
ec9c890
|
Even in that short time he had seen that Anne had great power. She did not care if she quarreled with her uncle, or with any of the men at court that could have been her allies. She did not care who hated her, as long as the king was at her beck and call. And she could ruin any man she chose.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
9be2e4d
|
of the agreed facts: the official bedding; the young couple co-habiting at Ludlow; their youth and health; and the absence of any concern about the consummation of their marriage; convincingly indicates
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
8ef9413
|
Anne tried to dazzle him with her high spirits and her beauty. She kept her temper with him, though he was sour and dull. She danced, she gambled, she laughed, she skated, she was all joy, all light. She threw Jane Seymour into the background, no man ever had eyes for another woman when Anne was in radiant mood. Not even the king could look away from her as she went through the dancing court, her head high, that turn of the neck as someone ..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
c5f3881
|
Oricare ar fi limba ce o povesteste, pe orice melodie ar fi cantata, tragedia Melusinei e aceasta: barbatul ii va promite intotdeauna mai mult decat ii sta in putinta unei femei pe care n-o poate intelege
|
|
melusina
relatie
femeie
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
b89aa6c
|
She did not realize, when her father claimed the throne and her brother won it, that a price must always be paid for power, and it will be paid by her as well as the rest of us. She doesn't realize yet that though men go to war it is women who suffer--perhaps more than anyone.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
a2cd540
|
Nu vreau sa ma gandesc la faptul de a fi o femeie care nu poate trai in noua lume pe care o construiesc barbatii. Nu vreau sa ma gandesc cum s-a ridicat Melusina din fantana ei arteziana si s-a inchis intr-un castel, cat timp sunt refugiata in sanctuar si noi, toate fiicele Melusinei suntem captive intr-un loc, unde nu putem fi pe de-a intregul noi insele"."
|
|
feminism
lumea-barbatilor
magie
melusinam-legenda
revolta
femeie
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
48fee90
|
This is God's victory: not mine.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
e6f9b75
|
Anne shook her head. "I'll not be safe until she is dead," she said. "Just as she will not be safe until I am dead. It is not just a matter now of a man or a throne, it is as if I am her shadow and she is mine. We are locked together till death. One of us has to win outright and neither of us can be sure that we have won or lost until the other is dead and in the ground." --
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
cc99ecd
|
She did not want him to know that she was not his beloved little sister any more but a woman who had learned to throw everything, even her mortal soul, into the battle to become queen.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
24d901e
|
That's how it is for women," I said, stung into honesty. "It's not what one would choose--I grant you that. But women are the very toys of fortune."
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
f909d19
|
What's her secret, d'you think?" "I think they're very alike." My distaste for the two of them crept into my tone. "They both know exactly what they want and they both stop at nothing to get it. They both have the ability to be absolutely single-minded. It's why the king was such a great sportsman. When he chased a stag he saw nothing in his whole heart but the stag. And Anne is the same. She schooled herself to follow only her interest. An..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
5baa3e2
|
What's your family?" he demanded through clenched teeth. "Boleyn." "What's your kin?" "Howards." "What's your home?" "Hever and Rochford." "What's your kingdom?" "England." "Who's your king?" "Henry." "Then serve them. In that order. Did I say the Spanish queen once in that list?" "No." "Remember it." I"
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
2f48075
|
Every day I dance attendance on one sister or the other and play pander to the king. Every day I deny my own desire, my own passion, I deny my own soul! I make my life a secret to myself. Now you come.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
de0e6e6
|
She dropped to the stool before the little looking glass, rested her head on her hands and stared at herself. "He's in love with me," she said. "He's mad for me. I spend all my time bringing him close and holding him off. When he dances with me I can feel his hardness like a codpiece. He's desperate to have me."
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
40ed429
|
I did not need to keep the letter to remember the tone. Anna triumphant. And she was right. Nothing would be the same for any woman in this country again. From this time onward no wife, however obedient, however loving, would be safe. For everyone would know that if a wife such as Queen Katherine of England could be put aside for no reason, then any wife could be put aside.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
a10bbbe
|
Any triumph she has is halved if I am not there to see it. And anything that goes wrong for me, any slight or humiliation, she is quick to perceive and she would even be quick to revenge--oh!--but inside her heart is singing to know that I have taken a blow.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
1d2a124
|
But to tell you the truth, it is the same for me. I am as envious of her as she is of me. But I have seen her rise and rise.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
8c2d3bf
|
We're in this together. This is for all of us: Boleyns and Howards. We all rise or fall on this. We're all waiting and playing the long game. You have to lead the charge, Anne. But we're all behind you." She"
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
2bd5a6a
|
We wait? No! You can wait! The cardinal can wait! Henry can wait! But I have to dance on the spot, I have to be seen to make progress while actually making none.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
c6f037d
|
I have to retain the illusion of things happening, I have to make Henry feel more and more intensely loved, I have to give him the belief that things are getting better and better because he is a king and all his life everyone has told him that he shall have the very best. He has been promised cream and gold and honey, I cannot give him 'wait.' How am I to keep going? How am I to do it?
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
f66cfad
|
But from morning to night Anne was with the king, as close to his side as a newly wed bride, as a chief counselor, as a best friend. She would return to our chamber only to change her gown or lie on the bed and snatch a rest while he was at Mass, or when he wanted to ride out with his gentlemen. Then she would lie in silence, like one who has dropped dead of exhaustion. Her gaze would be blank on the canopy of the bed, her eyes wide open, s..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
2806e8e
|
It's still woman's work whether it's done in a great hall or in the kitchen," I said bitterly. "I know it well enough. It's earning no money for yourself and everything for your husband and master. It's obeying him as quickly and as well as if you were a groom of the servery. It's having to tolerate anything he chooses to do, and smile as he does it. I've served Queen Katherine in these last few years. I've seen how life has been for her. I..
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
df6dd2b
|
If women could only have more," I said longingly. "If we could have more in our own right. Being a woman at court is like forever watching a pastrycook at work in the kitchen. All those good things, and you can have nothing."
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
1d628c0
|
Open those beautiful eyes of yours and tell lies for us." "
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
08929c4
|
Where have I offended you? I take God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife. These twenty years and more I have been your true wife, and by me you have had many children though it pleased God to call them out of this world. And when you had me at the first I was a true maid, without touch of man--" Henry"
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
8a85248
|
Her body in firelight and candlelight was as beautiful as a wild animal.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
415a896
|
I understand now why they break into convents, force women against their will, defy sanctuary to finish the killing chase. They arouse in themselves a wild vicious hunger more like animals than men. I did not know that war was like this. I feel I have been a fool not to know, since I was raised in a kingdom at war and am the daughter of a man captured in battle, the widow of a knight, the wife of a merciless soldier. But I know now.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
2a5203b
|
Meluzina tragediaja - barmilyen nyelv beszelje is el, barmilyen dallam enekelje is meg - az, hogy egy ferfi mindig tobbet iger, mint amennyit tenni kepes egy noert, akit nem tud megerteni.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
4dd812f
|
A haja szoke, a szeme szurke, napbarnitott, nyilt, mosolygo arca csupa baj es konnyed elegancia. Ilyen kiralyt eddig meg nem lattunk Angliaban: ezt a ferfit elso latasra megszeretik az emberek. Tekintetet az arcomra szegezi, mintha tudnam valamely titkat, mintha oroktol fogva ismernenk egymast, es erzem, hogy langol az arcom, de nem tudok masfele nezni, csak ora.
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |
|
f2d89de
|
would kill them at once, and blame it on Richard. If he found my sons alive, he
|
|
|
Philippa Gregory |