Book reviews this week are Scourge of Henry V111 The Life of Marie De Guise, Melanie Clegg; and The Good Wife of Bath : A (Mostly) True Story, Karen Brooks – see Books: Reviews for the full reviews. Both books were provided to me by NetGalley for review.
As I finished the biography of a most remarkable woman, I wondered why Henry V111 was given top billing in the title. Not only did he die well before Marie de Guise, (January 1547; she died in June 1560) but her life was far more than her relationship with the English king. Melanie Clegg Scourge of Henry V111 The Life of Marie De Guise, Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword History, 2021 (first published 2016).
Karen Brooks The Good Wife of Bath: A (Mostly) True Story, HQ Fiction, Australia, 2021. Karen Brooks says that she found Chaucer’s Wife irresistible, and this shines through the novel she has written from the Wife of Bath’s perspective.
Women rule at more media companies
From Axios AM, 15th April, Mike Allen
Women have been picked to lead some of the country’s largest newsrooms over the past year, including yesterday’s announcement that CBS News executive Kimberly Godwin will be president of ABC News.
- Godwin in May will become the first Black woman to lead a Big 3 news division, Axios Media Trends expert Sara Fischer writes.
- Rashida Jones was named president of MSNBC last year. She’s the first Black executive to lead a major cable news network.
Several newsrooms have announced female editors-in-chief, replacing mostly white men.
- Reuters News this week named Alessandra Galloni, now a top Reuters editor in London, as its next editor-in-chief. She’ll be the first woman to lead the 170-year-old news agency.
- HuffPost, Vox Media and Entertainment Weekly have also tapped women to lead their newsrooms this year.
Between the lines: While the #MeToo movement prompted transformations at a few newsrooms, last year’s Black Lives Matter protests are what really began to push newsrooms, and companies in general, to take diversity in leadership more seriously.
Helen McCrory
I first saw Helen McCrory in The Fragile Heart on television, and last saw her on stage in Medea. In between, to me, she was the source of so much artistry, strength and humour in North Square and other television and film roles. From her role in The Fragile Heart to her heartbreaking Medea performance, I tried to see Helen McCrory in as many vehicles as possible. Unfortunately, Medea was the only time I saw her on stage, but her film and television appearances were also wonderful. We have lost so many more years of her magnificence – Helen McCrory’s death at 52 is a tragedy.
Robin's Room 