Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses
Everyone knows about the Wars of the Roses; but what about the women behind that fight over the English throne? This question is asked and answered by Gristwood in this multiple biography of the Plantagenet women—wives, daughters, and mistresses—who played often pivotal behind-the-scenes roles in the “cousins’ war.” As the York and the Lancaster men prepare to square off, the lives, loves, loyalties, and fortunes of the major female family members are chronicled in juicy detail. Seven women (Marguerite of Anjou, Elizabeth of York, Margaret of Burgundy, Cecily Neville, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort, and Anne Neville) make the final cut, as a delicately spun dynastic web is irreparably shredded by suspicion, greed, and ambition. Recommend this digestible collective biography to Philippa Gregory fans who want to delve deeper into the tangled Plantagenet-Tudor world. --Margaret Flanagan