Last year I finally read my first Susan Higginbotham novel, The Stolen Crown and was hooked.  I was anxiously awaiting her latest novel, The Queen of Last Hopes and was lucky enough to receive a review copy.  I was not disappointed.

This book is all about the controversial,  Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, for a time anyway.  She was sent from her native France to marry King Henry VI.  The alliance was to help bring peace between the two countries but it did not.

I took many years for Margaret to become pregnant and she was destined to only have one child.  When Edward was born, King Henry was in a stupor, totally unresponsive.  He eventually came out of it and proudly met his son.  However, there were many months before he recovered and Richard, the Duke of York, decided he should be in charge.  Margaret tried to become Regent until her husband was well again but failed and Richard succeeded.

Even when King Henry is well again, Richard of York has plans to take over.  Thus began the turbulent, War of the Roses.  Richard accused Margaret of having an affair and therefore, Edward was a bastard so could never be king.  There was no proof of course, just speculation, but enough to raise doubts of England.  Enough to help raise an army against the Lancaster king. 

Many battles happened back and forth.  Sometimes Henry was King but and Margaret Queen but for long periods, not.  It was not decided until the final battle between the Yorks and the Lancasters, with many dead or put to death.

I have read other books that take place during the War of the Roses.  Susan Higgnbotham shows Margaret in a more favourable light. 

I liked how she had dates displayed at the beginning of each chapter with little, if any “flashbacks”, which can cause confusion.  Each chapter had a different narrator and was in the title of each chapter.  It made it easy to follow along and see history unfold from many perspectives.

Some of the war scenes got to be a bit repetitious for me but were necessary for historical accuracy.  That is my only complaint but I cannot call it a flaw.  I loved Higginbotham’s author Note at the back explaining what happened to the remaining main characters, such as Margaret, herself and what parts of the book were completely imagined by her.  However, she did stick to historical fact throughout, with just a few events here and there to spice it up.

4.5/5

Please join me at So Many Precious Books on January 27th in welcoming Susan Higganbothom.  She will be telling us even more about Margaret of Anjou.

Thanks to Beth Pehlke of Sourcebooks for the review copy of this book.

Also reviewed by:

Historical-Fiction

The Burton Review 

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