The Lady of the Rivers: A Novel [Paperback]

I loved this book! This book is the back-story. The Lady of The Rivers explains the background story for the Red Queen and the White Queen, so read The Lady of The Rivers first as it will make the other two stories more meaningful. Also, if you are even mildly interested in Tarot, this story will pique your interest in the history of Tarot, or perhaps your desire to finally buy a deck and play with it. I actually bought this book as my very first Audible audio book so it was even more captivating than reading it on paper. Thank you Philippa for another great 'read'. Keep them coming please!

The Cousins’ War, book 3

Set during the House of Lancaster and times of the Wars of the Roses, this third novel if of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, a descended of the river goddess of Melusina and a notoriously beautiful woman who captured the eye of the Duke of Bedford, one of the most powerful men in England and became his bride at the age of 17. He has been one to encourage her occult skills and urge her to reveal his military fate.

The book opens in France in 1430 with Joan of Arc’s capture and her final moments burned at the stake, an event that Jacquetta was forced to witness. Her marriage to the Duke was short lived and when he died two years later Jacquetta could not denied her feelings for Richard Woodville , her later husband’s squire. Both reveal their love and soon marry without the approval of King Henry VI and pay a staggeringly substantial fine for this bold move. Their love resonates through the entire story and their passion and tenderness never erodes, each time Richard returns from a battle there is a new child waiting for him. Soon the drama of the Wars of the Roses with the conflicts between the Yorkists and Lancastrians put them in the middle of a world full of wars and shifting alliances where they need to stay safe and secure.

The novel ends with the Woodville’s beautiful widowed daughter catching the eye of King Edward IV, a vision Jacquetta once had.

Ms. Gregory writes entertaining and easy to read historical fiction, although she admits taking liberties to bring to life the forgotten women in the English history. Jacquetta is a refreshing heroine with her divining sighting and adds originality and mystic air to the story. As in her precious novels, Ms. Gregory portrays spirited women at odds with powerful men, she know how to inject drama with historical events, beautifully adds figures to her invented ones and expertly makes history come alive for our enjoyment.

I was very disappointed by this book after having enjoyed the many successful novels written by Philippa Gregory.
The historical background here chosen by the author is the War of the Roses, which consists of a series of battles fought over 30 years by the English Houses of the Lancaster and the York, with alternate victories and defeats. This piece of history, boring by nature, remains in the book a boring story, that is a repetitious succession of "uneventful events".
The author's interest was raised by the historical character, Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, the Lady in Waiting and good friend of the Queen Margaret of Anjou. She is the main character, who tells the story in the first person. This remains the best element of this fictional-historical novel, the fact that a famous historical episode is told from the point of view of one of the minor participants, and how History with the capital 'H' affects the story of every day life. The result however is that of a diluted story into a non told history. There is no real drama. The plot is flat, it unfolds slowly, with no grip, no intensity. Neither the characters, nor the events ever come to life. The events are monotonously told, never dramatized, and, in the same way than the every day events, they repeat themselves over and over again.
The main character lacks personality, her potential is not fulfilled. It remains a flat image on paper. All the characters in effect lack depth and they keep monotonously repeating the same actions.