Philippa Gregory Popular Books
Philippa Gregory Biography & Facts
Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is The Other Boleyn Girl (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association and has been adapted into two films. AudioFile magazine has called Gregory "the queen of British historical fiction". Early life and education Philippa Gregory was born on 9 January 1954 in Nairobi, at that time serving as capital city of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (modern-day Republic of Kenya), the second daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory, a radio operator and navigator for East African Airways. When she was two years old, her family moved to Bristol, UK.She was a "rebel" at Colston's Girls' School where she obtained a B grade in English and two E grades in History and Geography at A-level. She then went to journalism college in Cardiff and spent a year as an apprentice with the Portsmouth News before she managed to gain a place on an English literature degree course at the University of Sussex, where she switched to a history course. In 1982, she received a B.A. degree in history from Sussex University.She worked for BBC radio for two years before attending University of Edinburgh, where she obtained a Ph.D. degree in 18th-century literature in 1985 for her thesis entitled The popular fiction of eighteenth-century commercial circulating libraries. Gregory has taught at the University of Durham, University of Teesside, and the Open University, and was made a Fellow of Kingston University in 1994. Career Writing She has written novels set in several different historical periods, though primarily the Tudor period and the 16th century. Reading a number of novels set in the 17th century led her to write the best-selling Lacey trilogy Wideacre, which is a story about the love of land and incest, The Favoured Child and Meridon. This was followed by The Wise Woman. A Respectable Trade, a novel of the slave trade in England, set in 18th-century Bristol, was adapted by Gregory for a four-part drama series for BBC television. Gregory's script was nominated for a BAFTA, won an award from the Committee for Racial Equality, and the film was shown worldwide.Two novels about a gardening family are set during the English Civil War: Earthly Joys and Virgin Earth, while she has in addition written contemporary fiction – Perfectly Correct, Mrs Hartley and the Growth Centre, The Little House and Zelda's Cut. She has also written for children.Some of her novels have won awards and have been adapted into television dramas. The most successful of her novels has been The Other Boleyn Girl, published in 2001 and adapted for BBC television in 2003 with Natascha McElhone, Jodhi May and Jared Harris. In the year of its publication, The Other Boleyn Girl also won the Romantic Novel of the Year and it has subsequently spawned sequels – The Queen's Fool, The Virgin's Lover, The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheritance, and The Other Queen. Miramax bought the film rights to The Other Boleyn Girl and released a film of the same name in February 2008 starring Eric Bana, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Gregory has also published a series of books about the Plantagenets, the ruling houses that preceded the Tudors, and the Wars of the Roses. Her first book The White Queen, published in 2009, centres on the life of Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV. The Red Queen, published in 2010, is about Margaret Beaufort the mother of Henry VII and grandmother to Henry VIII. The Lady of the Rivers (2011), is the life of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of Elizabeth Woodville. The Kingmaker's Daughter, published in 2012, is about Anne Neville, the wife of Richard III, and The White Princess (2013) centres on the life of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII and the mother of Henry VIII. The Last Tudor is a novel about Jane Grey and her sisters Katherine and Mary. The 2013 BBC One television series The White Queen is a 10-part adaptation of Gregory's novels The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter (2012).In 2013, Helen Brown of The Telegraph wrote that "Gregory has made an impressive career out of breathing passionate, independent life into the historical noblewomen whose personalities had previously lain flat on family trees, remembered only as diplomatic currency and brood mares." She added, "Gregory’s historical fiction has always been entertainingly speculative (those tempted to sneer should note that she’s never claimed otherwise) and comes with lashings of romantic licence."In 2011 she contributed a short story "Why Holly Berries are as Red as Roses" to an anthology supporting the Woodland Trust. The anthology, Why Willows Weep has so far helped The Woodland Trust plant approximately 50,000 trees.Gregory was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to literature and to charity in the UK and the Gambia. Criticism Gregory has said that her "commitment to historical accuracy" is a hallmark of her writing. This is disputed by historians. Historian David Starkey, appearing alongside Gregory in a documentary about Anne Boleyn, described her work as "good Mills and Boon", adding that: "We really should stop taking historical novelists seriously as historians. The idea that they have authority is ludicrous." Susan Bordo criticised Gregory's claims to historical accuracy as "self-deceptive and self-promoting chutzpah", and notes that it is not so much the many inaccuracies in her work as "Gregory's insistence on her meticulous adherence to history that most aggravates the scholars."In her novel The Other Boleyn Girl, her portrayal of Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn drew criticism. The novel depicts Anne as cold and ruthless, as well as strongly implying that the accusations that she committed adultery and incest with her brother were true, despite it being widely accepted that she was innocent of the charges. Novelist Robin Maxwell refused on principle to write a blurb for this book, describing its characterisation of Anne as "vicious, unsupportable". Philanthropy Gregory runs a small charity building wells in school gardens in The Gambia. Gardens for The Gambia was established in 1993 when Gregory was in The Gambia, researching for her book A Respectable Trade. Since then the charity has dug almost 200 low technology, low budget and therefore easily maintained wells, which are on-stream and providing water to irrigate school and community gardens to provide meals for the poorest children and harvest a cash crop to buy school equipment, seeds and tools. In addition to wells, the charity has piloted a successful bee-keeping scheme, funded feeding programmes and educational workshops in batik and pottery and is working with larger donors to install mechanical boreholes in some remote areas of the country where the water table is.... Discover the Philippa Gregory popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Philippa Gregory books.
Best Seller Philippa Gregory Books of 2024
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Chaos
A D SwanstonFebruary 1574 and London is in a fervour of paranoia, superstition and rumour. Mob violence is commonplace. A whispered word is all it takes to condemn a woman to burn as a witch.H...
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A Rose for the Crown
Anne Easter SmithAN UNFORGETTABLE HEROINE, A KING MISUNDERSTOOD BY HISTORY, A LOVE STORY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD In A Rose for the Crown, we meet one of history's alleged villains through the e...
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Queen By Right
Anne Easter SmithFrom the awardwinning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novelthe story of Cecily of York, mother of two king...
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The Irish Princess
Elizabeth ChadwickHer father's only daughter. Her country's only hope. Ireland, 1152The King of Leinster, awaiting news of his newborn child, is disappointed to hear he has a daughter. Diarmait MacM...
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Clash of Empires
Ben KaneHAS ROME FINALLY MET ITS MATCH?'A triumph!' Harry Sidebottom 'Exceptional' Anthony Riches'Fans of battleheavy historical fiction will, justly, adore Clash of Empires' The TimesTHE ...
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The Uncrowned Queen
Posie Graeme-EvansThe thrilling climax to the trilogy that began with The Innocent and The Exiled brings Posie GraemeEvans's bittersweet story of two lovers divided by the throne of England to its d...
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Banners of Hell
Paul DohertySummer 1312. The brutal murder of King Edward II's favourite, Peter Gaveston, unleashes a horde of demons . . .Sir Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the Secret Seal, hastens to the Dominican...
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Royal Mistress
Anne Easter SmithFrom the author of A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York comes another engrossing historical novel of the York family in the Wars of the Roses, telling the fascinating story of...
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Watch the Lady
Elizabeth FremantleFrom “a brilliant new player in the court of royal fiction” (People), comes the mesmerizing story of Lady Penelope Devereuxthe daring young beauty in the Tudor court, who inspired ...
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The Shadowed Land
Signe PikeKing Arthur and his contemporaries are boldly reimagined in this “mystical, epic, and captivating” (Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author) series that resurrects the real...
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The Crown
Nancy BilyeauAn astonishing debut in historical fiction, hailed as “part The Da Vinci Code, part The Other Boleyn Girl,” (Woman’s Day), The Crown follows one nun’s dangerous quest to find an an...
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The Lost Queen
Signe Pike“Outlander meets Camelot” (Kirsty Logan, author of The Gracekeepers) in the first book of an exciting historical series that reveals the untold story of Languoretha powerful and, u...
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No Place for a Lady
Gill PaulPraise for Gill Paul: ‘A cleverly crafted novel and an enthralling story… A triumph.’ DINAH JEFFERIES ‘Gripping, romantic and evocative of its time.’ LULU TAYLOR The year is 1854,...
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Dark Tracks
Philippa GregoryEnter a world of romance, danger, and superstition in the in the fourth thrilling book in the Order of Darkness series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory.Lu...
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Young and Damned and Fair
Gareth RussellWritten with an exciting combination of narrative flair and historical authority, this biography of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, is “a stunning achievement” (The Sund...
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The Collector of Dying Breaths
M. J. RoseNew York Times bestselling author M. J. Rose’s “wondrously original” (Providence Journal) suspense novel featuring perfumer Jac L’Etoile “combines fascinating history, torrid roman...
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Tudor
Leanda de LisleThe Tudors are England's most dramatic royal familyHenry VIII notoriously divorced his queen and broke with the church of Rome, and Elizabeth I became the greatest English queen in...
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The Exiled
Posie Graeme-EvansIn this windswept story set in the lusty fifteenth century, the enchanting Anne faces the challenge of raising her child in exile. Always resourceful, she flourishes as a merchant ...
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The Tapestry
Nancy BilyeauThe next pageturner in the awardwinning Joanna Stafford series takes place in the heart of the Tudor court, as she risks everything to defy the most powerful men of her era.Henry V...
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The Forgotten Kingdom
Signe PikeFrom the author of The Lost Queen, hailed as “Outlander meets Camelot” (Kirsty Logan, the author of The Gloaming) and “The Mists of Avalon for a new generation” (Linnea Hartsuyker,...
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The Tournament
Matthew Reilly“A complete success…action fans and PBS types can share their enthusiasm” (Booklist, starred review) when a young Queen Elizabeth I is thrust into a gripping game of deception and ...
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A Rogue of My Own
Johanna LindseyIn #1 New York Times bestselling author Johanna Lindsey’s captivating regency romance, an innocent young lady’s first brush with royal court intrigue lands her at the altar alongsi...
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The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
Robin MaxwellNow available again, the first book in Robin Maxwell's acclaimed Elizabethan Quartet: "Wonderfully juicy . . . Maxwell brings all of bloody Tudor England vividly to life” (Publishe...
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Winter King
Thomas PennA fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudorsthe dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynastyfilled with spies, plots, counterplots, and an u...
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The Square of Sevens
Laura Shepherd-RobinsonThis “intricately plotted, epic” (The Times, London) international bestsellerin the vein of the vivid novels of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perryfollows an orphaned fortune teller in 18...
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Four Sisters, All Queens
Sherry JonesRich in intrigue and scheming, love and lust, Sherry Jones’s vibrant historical novel follows four women destined to sway the fate of nations and the hearts of kings…Amid the lush ...
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The Sea Gate
Jane JohnsonA broken family, a house of secretsan entrancing tale of love and courage set during the Second World War.After Rebecca’s mother dies, she must sort through her empty flat and come...
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Stormbringers
Philippa GregoryThe second book in a YA quartet filled with intrigue, mystery, and romance, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory.The year is 1453, and the end of the world is...