Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory is the undisputed queen of the queens. Her novels based on the lives, romances and machinations of British female monarchs, both in and out of power, have been consistent bestsellers. One of them, The Other Boleyn Girl, was made into a critically acclaimed TV movie by the BBC in 2003 and a successful Hollywood movie starring Scarlett Johansson in 2008.
Gregory's latest novel, The Red Queen, part of her series about the women of the House of Plantagenet, is based on the life of Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the House of Tudor and the mother of King Henry VII. It is currently a Globe and Mail and New York Times top-10 bestseller.
The Red Queen describes in detail the dismal life of a woman on the fringes of the English king's court in the violent 1500s, a time when young girls in the aristocracy were thought of as chattel to be "wedded and bedded."
Gregory was born in Kenya and raised in England. Her first novel, Wideacre, was published in 1987.
Join her here for a live discussion about her work on Thursday, Sept. 9 at 11 a.m. ET.