Until recently, it had been years since I immersed myself in a romance novel. Really, years. Maybe even decades. My taste in reading had turned more to history, biography, other non-fiction like books about gardening and bonsai. And then I discovered Philippa Gregory. I had seen the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” and enjoyed it — I love Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johanssen. So when I saw a copy of the book on sale, 3 for the price of 2 at a chain bookstore, I took the bait. Bought that and two other Gregory novels. Can you say, hook, line and sinker? I’ve just finished another one — “The King’s Curse” — and you know what? I enjoyed the heck out of it! It made a nice break between “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies”, also on my bedside table.

I should have known. I went through a phase as a teenager when I ripped through books by authors like Victoria Holt. There is something so comforting about living vicariously through the travails of a fictional stranger.