ORIGINAL: H Gilmer
I'm reading "The Queen's Oranges". Historical fiction. I can't get enough of historical fiction about England for some reason.
I really liked "The Other Boleyan Girl" by Philippa Gregory. I picked it up because it was suggested to me by a female cab driver who also loved "Top Gear" - so her opinion mattered [:)]
The thing I liked the most about the book is how it portrays in a realistic way an era where "men" and "women" were considered grown up at 14. The novel's character behave as someone living in the world of "adults", but without losing the lack of experience and the mindset of teen-agers or people in their 20s. This is why the movie adaptations were lacking: today it would be unacceptable to show a 14 years old girl who behaves like a 14 years old but considers normal having kids.
It is eerie to look back in history and see how many famous historical figures led armies or ruled kingdoms (and well) at an age that today would be barely considered enough to finish university. When people died at 40, it was a world of kids and youngsters, from our perspective - but somehow they managed to pull it off and history went on [:)]