Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This book, by Aimee Fleming, is a lens into the life of Sir Thomas More's eldest daughter, Margaret. It is clear that More regarded his daughter quite highly, as Fleming frequently points out the closeness of their familial relationship, even to the detriment of Margaret's marriage at times. Though a slight book, it does well to bring to life the times that the Mores lived in, and the depth of feelings that the family had for each other. The way in which Fleming describes Margaret pushing through the crowd to give her father one last embrace before he's locked up until his execution was so evocative that it brought tears to my eyes.

I enjoyed every minute reading this book.

NetGalley, Stephanie Gates

Margaret Roper was an educated woman with her own talents and achievements, not just her father's daughter.
The rich and descriptive narrative takes you back to sixteenth century England in this well woven book, full of information and atmosphere. I found it a compelling and extremely interesting to read.

NetGalley, LOIS ELIYAHU

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In this fascinating biography, Spillman brings Margaret More Roper to life. Daughter of renowned scholar Sir Thomas More, Margaret is the entire focus of this book as a scholar, writer, and translator from the Tudor period and the English Reformation. Following her life from her childhood and education under her father to her married life as a great mind in her own right, Spillman’s book provides insight into women’s lives and education in sixteenth-century England. Readers also witness the split from the Catholic Church from the English Catholic’s side of things and understand how Tudor society functioned for women with educations. As one of many educated women from the period, Margaret More Roper’s life highlights the role that religion played in daily life and in academics. This book and its insights into her life allows readers to place her in conversation with her academic contemporaries and with contemporary women to create a more complete picture of women’s lives as individuals, aristocrats, and scholars. A must-read for Tudor fans and Tudor, English, and women’s historians alike, this book is approachable, comprehensive, and incredibly engaging, and readers are sure to enjoy these insights into Margaret More Roper’s relatively forgotten life as a luminary of the Tudor period.

NetGalley, Lily Amidon

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Wow!! This was a really interesting book, I had never heard of her and found her life and times a very interesting and entertaining read!

NetGalley, Heather Bennett

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is a layman accessible and interesting monograph on the life and works of Margaret More Roper. As a women of the period, she is nearly always considered a footnote in her father's biographies, but here the author has written a balanced and well reasoned consideration of her in historical context in her own right as a primary subject and not just an aside.

The book is written with chapters in more or less chronological order: early life, the More household, education & adolescence, marriage & writing, motherhood, Humanism & reputation, reputation, loyalty, mortality (the imprisonment & death of her father), and their/her legacy. The book is meticulously annotated throughout and the chapter notes and bibliography will provide readers with many (many!) hours of further reading.

Five stars. It's both a well written and researched study of the More family and allies (and enemies), but also a well rounded study of Humanism, intellectualism, and the possibilities afforded women from the highest classes of the period.

NetGalley, Annie Buchanan