From Publishers Weekly
The War of the Roses rages around the Lanyons in Exmoor, England, prosperous tenant farmers of the landed Sweetwater family. Peter Lanyon and his wife, Liza, bridle at his father Richard's attempts to run their lives as Richard, who hides a dark secret, tries to raise the family's station. Through war, intrigue and natural disaster, Peter and Liza love each other in their fashion, though each has a great lost love, and their mistakes come back to haunt them. As the Lanyons find favor with the Duke of Gloucester (who will be Richard III), it may be a case of being careful what you wish for. There's not enough historical detail to place the Lanyons in their time and place, and the book's pace is slow, but Anand, who writes the Ursula Blanchard mysteries as Fiona Buckley, has a light touch that carries this family saga.
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Product Description
When two ambitious families occupy the same patch of English soil, rivalry is sure to take root and flourish. A glimmer of initiative swells into blind desire, and minor hurts, nursed with jealousy, fester into a malignant hatred. When a bitter feud is born, the price for this wild and beautiful piece of ground will take more than three generations to settle.
Richard Lanyon answers to no one save the aristocratic Sweetwater family, owners of the land he farms. His bitter resentment is legend within the bounds of their tiny Exmoor community, but as their tenant, Richard must do their bidding. Still, even noblemen don't have the power to contain ruthless ambition, and the Sweetwaters are no exception. Driven to succeed, Richard is prepared to take what is not his, and to forfeit the happiness of his family to claim the entitlements he lusts for.
In this epic story Valerie Anand creates a vivid portrait of fifteenth-century English life that resonates with the age-old themes of ambition, power, desire and greed.
