‘The Mirror & the Light’: Waiting for it? Loved it? Try these titles!

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná

I love how much our community uses the library. Sometimes that means waiting for the hottest titles. Don’t fret! I can help you find a similar reading experience to THAT book you are waiting for or that you finally read and loved. 

The Mirror & the Light readalikes


The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Why you should try it: If you'd rather start at the beginning of the saga that is the Tudor family, what better place to start than with Henry VIII's grandmother?

Description: A tale of the Wars of the Roses follows Elizabeth Woodville, who ascends to royalty and fights for the well-being of her family, including two sons whose imprisonment in the Tower of London precedes a devastating unsolved mystery.

Stream & download with: Hoopla (digital audiobook), Media on Demand & Libby (ebook)

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The Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

Why you should try it: Catherine Parr, last wife of Henry VIII, would outlive her husband and develop beneficial relationships with all three of her stepchildren.

Description: A tale inspired by the life of Henry VIII's sixth wife follows her reluctant marriage to the egotistical and powerful king in spite of her love for Thomas Seymour, a situation that compels her to make careful choices in a treacherous court.

Stream & download with: Hoopla (digital audiobook)

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Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen by Alison Weir

Why you should try it: Never forget: Katherine was the first wife, and her marriage to Henry VIII is legendary in both its beginnings and its ending.

Description: Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon, after being widowed from the future King of England, marries his brother and shares a happy marriage that is overshadowed by her failure to bear a healthy son and the king's growing obsession with another woman.

Stream & download with: Media on Demand & Libby (ebook)

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The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner

Why you should try it: Instead of reading about her parents and stepmothers, you can jump right to Elizabeth I, before she became queen.

Description: In 16th-century England, Brendan Prescott enters a world of danger and lies when he reluctantly agrees to work as a double agent for Princess Elizabeth's protector, William Cecil. 

Stream & download with: Hoopla (digital audiobook)

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The Bear & the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Why you should try it: This wild card choice combines all the court intrigue of Mantel's novel with the rugged and fantastical landscape of Russian history and fairy tales.

Description: A novel inspired by Russian fairy tales follows the experiences of a wild young girl who taps the mysterious powers of a precious necklace given to her father years earlier to save her village from dark and dangerous forces.

Stream & download with: Media on Demand & Libby (ebook and digital audiobook)

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Librarian Dontana

About Dontaná

Dontaná is a Collection Management Librarian who was born with an unending reading list. She is almost always reading two books simultaneously and is easily distracted by cool covers.  

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