Helpful Score: 2
In telling the story of the legendary Juana the Mad and her husband, Philip the Fair, Christopher Gortner has brilliantly recreated fifteenth century Spain at the height of its grandeur and woven a vibrant tapestry of love and hate in a court rife with intrigue. As the story opens, thirteen-year old Juana, the future Queen of Spain, witnesses her parents, the warrior monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand expel the Moors and unite Castile and Aragon. Soon afterwards she reaches marriageable age and is betrothed against her will to the Hapsburg prince Philip the Fair. From there, The Last Queen moves between the courts of Flanders and Spain to unfold an intricate tale of royal intrigue laced with love and cruelty. But while Juana may flee one court for the other, she cannot flee her destiny. Gortner writes with masterful skill of the love-and-hate relationship that produced the Emperor Charles V and Juana's grandson, Phillip II of Spain and brings to life an extraordinary queen in an exotic land at an unforgettable time in history.
