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e5f1110
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Life is a risk, who knows this better than me? Who knows more surely that babies die easily, that children fall ill from the least cause, that royal blood is fatally weak, that death walks behind my family like a faithful black hound?
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Philippa Gregory |
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812b810
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Joan was a young woman who tried to walk her own path in the world of men, just as my great-aunt told me. And it led to this cold tower, this swan dive, this death.
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Philippa Gregory |
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0534a4e
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A single man's imperfect conscience can never be superior to centuries of tradition.
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Philippa Gregory |
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7653595
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Mas, entre nos, nunca houve tempo para as palavras de amor; a maior parte do nosso tempo foi gasta em despedidas.
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Philippa Gregory |
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80dcb00
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They were all wrong and the dreams and seeings were right. And there was nothing wrong with me. I felt my shoulders go back and my head come up, and I smiled at the doctor and promised to be prompt at his house in the morning; and as I smiled I sensed all the familiar strength - the strength which I named as the Lacey strength, Beatrice strength - come back to me, and I looked him in his pale blue eyes and thought to myself: you and I are e..
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Philippa Gregory |
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06b6d7f
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One little boy, and he a bastard,' Anne said thoughtfully. 'One little girl of six, one elderly Queen and a King in the prime of his life.' She looked up at the two of us, dragging her gaze away from her own pale face in the water. 'What's going to happen?' She asked. 'Something has to happen. What's it going to be?
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Philippa Gregory |
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2e7b090
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It is hopeless, I cannot say it. I give a little whooping cough and raise my eyes to his face. I cannot help myself, I hate him like an enemy, I cannot stop myself dreaming of his enemy, I cannot say his name, I cannot possibly marry him. But Henry, prosaic and real, understands exactly what is happening, and gives me a sharp corrective pinch with his fingers in the soft palm of my hand. He uses his nails, he digs into my flesh, I yelp at t..
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Philippa Gregory |
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2cdeea3
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Compared with the rest of us she was silver, while we were pewter, a common mixture of lead and tin.
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Philippa Gregory |
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4da648f
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I am fit to capture a unicorn, and I should not be so questioned.
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virtue
virginity
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Philippa Gregory |
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0ce2c38
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The truth is the last thing that matters.
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Philippa Gregory |
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f510304
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We may be of the same family, but that is the very reason why we are not friends, for we are rivals for the throne. What quarrels are worse than family quarrels?
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history
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Philippa Gregory |
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ab01ae2
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Anne gave a little giggle. 'Oh what a tragedy Queen! You can smile while your heart is breaking because you are a woman, and a courtier and a Howard. That's three reasons for being the most deceitful creature on God's earth.
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Philippa Gregory |
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a95a5de
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It is luck to love someone who is free to love you in return. But I don't. I just desire him, desire him and desire him; and I wait for it to burn out. Everything I have ever gained has always turned to ashes after a little while. Why should this be any different?
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Philippa Gregory |
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30b7830
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Well hear this,' she hissed in my ear. 'Hear this Mary. I am playing my own game and I don't want you interrupting. Nobody will know anything until I am ready to tell them, and then they will know everything too late.' 'You're going to make him love you?' Abruptly she released me and I gripped my elbow and arm where the bones ached. 'I'm going to make him marry me.' she said flatly. 'And if you so much as breathe a word to anyone, then I w..
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Philippa Gregory |
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37af196
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It was Anne who was before the table like a prisoner before the bar. She did not stand with her head bowed as I always did. Anne stood with her head high, one dark eyebrow slightly raised, and she met my Uncle's glare as if she were his equal.
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Philippa Gregory |
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feb1148
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If a woman is interested in her own struggle into identity and power, then she will be interested in other women. The lives of these, and other women, show me what a woman can do even without formal power, education, or rights, in a world dominated by men. They are inspirational examples of the strength of the female spirit.
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identity
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Philippa Gregory |
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b1d4909
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But you will break Anne's heart.' 'Her heart has to break and her spirit has to break if she is to be any use to her family.' My mother said coldly
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Philippa Gregory |
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ba3c5a4
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Her sadness had given her a serenity which had not been there before. It was as if she had learned a hard lesson: that chances in life would not fall into her lap like ripe cherries.
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Philippa Gregory |
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e621fe5
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He smiled at me, his wolfish smile. 'We are making a new order,' he said, 'a new world. Everything is changing, and here we are, at the very front of the change.' 'If I refuse?' I asked, my voice very thing. He gave me his most cynical smile that left his eyes as cold as wet coals. 'You don't,' he said simply. 'The world's not changed that much yet. Men still rule.
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Philippa Gregory |
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e5ce96a
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She smiled an empty bitter smile that did not reach her eyes, 'Do you think it can be worse than this? I cannot be charged with treason, I am the Queen of England, I am England. I cannot be divorced, I am the wife of the King. He has run mad this spring and he will recover by autumn. And all I have to do is get through this summer.' 'The Boleyn summer,' I said.
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Philippa Gregory |
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caa3237
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She's ice and ambition and she would see you on the gallows before surrendering her ambition. Anne has dazzled him, and dazzled the court, and dazzled even you.' 'Not me.' George said gently. 'Uncle likes her best,' I said resentfully. 'He likes nobody, but he wonders how far she might go.' 'We all wonder that. And what price she's prepared to pay. Especially if it's me that pays it.' 'It's not an easy dance she's leading.' George admitted...
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Philippa Gregory |
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2d8e1d7
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Nikoi ne triabva da me s'zhaliava. Mogat da me obichat, ili da me mraziat, ili da se strakhuvat ot men. No nikoga niama da pozvolia na niakogo da me s'zhaliava.
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Philippa Gregory |
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cd2cf2b
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Look, you can't fight everyone... You have to choose where you belong and rest there.
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Philippa Gregory |
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a033e65
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Perhaps there is a God like firelight, but all we can see is the shadows that we cast ourselves when we walk in front of the fire. Then we see great leaping shadows and think that this is God, but really it is only our own image.
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Philippa Gregory |
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1755bcf
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Getting a woman into power is not the point--it's getting a good woman into power who thinks and cares about what she does.
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Philippa Gregory |
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7904ae7
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Dinner was a meal where good manners overlaid discomfort.
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Philippa Gregory |
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e881ae8
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The most powerful men of the kingdom have dragged a duchess down and sent her out to be a marvel to the common people of London. They are so deeply afraid of her that they took the risk to dishonor their own. They are so anxious to save themselves that they thought they should throw her aside.
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women
politics
witch-trials
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Philippa Gregory |
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42e563e
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This child could not command a pet dove." Harsh but true, lol!"
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Philippa Gregory |
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a122e8a
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The stewards, and then the bailiffs, and then finally the lawyers meet. They wrangle, they agree, and we are to be married in June. It is no little decision for me - for the first time in my life I have my own lands in my own hands as a widow; once I become a wife everything becomes Lord Stanley's property. I have to struggle to reserve what I can from the law that rules that a wife has no rights, and I keep what I can, but I know that I am..
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Philippa Gregory |
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a2452ea
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I am sure your piety does you great credit, Margaret. But certainly, if God is speaking to the king, then He has not chosen the best time for this conversation.
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Philippa Gregory |
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421b40a
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If He were not God, then one would think it very badly planned.
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Philippa Gregory |
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4737afa
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But the magic moment when he walks alone has not yet happened, and I was praying he would do it before I have to leave. Now he will take his first step without me. And every step thereafter, I know. Every step of his life, and me not there to see him walk.
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motherhood
royalty
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Philippa Gregory |
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6146c65
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And it seems to me that there is nothing more likely to cure a woman of lust than marriage. Now I understand what the saint meant when he said that it was better to marry than to burn. In my experience, if you marry, you certainly won't burn.
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Philippa Gregory |
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14c00d5
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He bares his yellow teeth in a smile at me. 'Everyone is always our enemy,' he says. 'But right now, we are winning.
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Philippa Gregory |
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a011b28
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Margaret...you must know that you could never change your own life. You are a girl: girls have no choice. You could never even choose your own husband: you are of the royal family. A husband would always have been chosen for you. It is forbidden for one of royal blood to marry their own choice. You know this too. And finally, you are of the House of Lancaster. You cannot choose your allegiance. You have to serve your house, your family, and..
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Philippa Gregory |
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0560bf8
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Affection is not important to you, nor to me. You want power Margaret, power and wealth; and so do I. Nothing matters as much as this to either of us, and we will sacrifice anything for it.
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Philippa Gregory |
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5ddc5e2
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I do not grieve for him as a wife, as Anne Devereux has grieved for her husband William Herbert. She promised him she would never remarry, she swore she would go to her grave hoping to meet him in heaven. I suppose they were in some sort of love, thought married by contract. I suppose they found some sort of passion in their marriage. It is rare but not impossible. I do hope that they have no given my son ideas about loving his wife; a man ..
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marriage
love
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Philippa Gregory |
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db6d0b2
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All this is always for nothing," he says. "Don't you understand that yet? Every death is a pointless death; every battle should have been avoided. But if Edward can defeat the queen, and imprison her along with her husband, then it will indeed be over."
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war
history
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Philippa Gregory |
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c9277d8
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Go with the knowledge that I will think of you every time I lift your boy from his bed, every time I kneel for my prayers, every time I order my horse, every hour of every day.
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Philippa Gregory |
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7f1869f
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I felt his hardness and I suddenly understood-an older girl would have understood long before-that this was the currency of desire. He was my betrothed. he desired me. I desired him. All I had to do was tell him the truth.
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Philippa Gregory |
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bd85ef4
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lechery?" he asked with a wink, guessing from the hour that I had been with some palace kitchen-maid. "Oh aye, most vile," I said cheerfully, and jumped into the boat."
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lechery
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Philippa Gregory |
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a0a9e49
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Before God, I love you and cherish you more than anything in the world. Of course I want to marry you. I love you heart and soul.
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Philippa Gregory |
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2aaa7de
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I am marrying the finest man I have ever known." "It will cost you dear," he warns. "It would be worse to lose him."
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Philippa Gregory |
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ba6fb16
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You just decide,' she says simply. 'Just decide that you are not going to be a fearful woman and when you come to something that makes you apprehensive, you face it and walk towards it. Remember - anything you fear, you walk slowly and steadily towards it. And smile.
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Philippa Gregory |