Oh Susan, how do we love thee?

A Reader's Respite could sit here and count the ways, but we'd be here forever when it comes to historical fiction and author Susan Higginbotham.  She consistently turns out first-rate historical fiction and her newest release, The Stolen Crown, is simply superb.

The Stolen Crown is the riveting story of Katherine Woodville and her infamous marriage to Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham.  Armed with a cast of historical figures that are enough to make the most jaded historical fiction fan shiver with joy, this novel is a veritable treasure trove of 15th-century nobility in England.

For those of you unfamiliar with the basics of this little scandal, allow us to give you The Reader's Respite Version (kind of like The Reader's Digest Version, but better)....

Elizabeth Woodville was the non-royal commoner that England's King Edward IV developed a serious case of the hots for and to everyone's shock, in 1464, he actually married her.  This irked a lot of important people because,

1. Kings were supposed to make strategic marriages of state to further the interests of their country; and
2. Elizabeth wasn't averse to sweet-talking the King into making her own family very, very rich.

Personally, A Reader's Respite has always applauded ol' Liz for not giving away the milk for free, if you know what we mean.  But we digress.....

Liz made it a point of securing a bunch of advantageous marriages for her siblings (and there were a passel of them).  One of the more scandalous matches she made was for her young sister, Katherine Woodville.  Liz managed to marry Kate off to the fabulously wealthy Henry Stafford, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham.

 Harry, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, while his head was still connected to his body.

The few contemporary sources we have to go on these days generally relate that Harry didn't like his new bride because she was, socially speaking, so far below him (snobby, wasn't he?) and for a long time it was commonly thought that Kate was years and years older than Harry.  Turns out, this wasn't true and both were still children at the time of their marriage. And if Harry didn't care for his bride, he wasn't averse to sharing her bed:  they had five children together.

Harry went on to play a significant role in British history:  he is one of the prime suspects for the murder of Edward IV's two young boys (the famous Princes in the Tower) and eventually would lose his head for trying to take the English Crown for himself.  It's hard not to be intrigued by him.

 Who killed the Princes?

Higginbotham has, once again, taken page out of British history and brought it to life before our very eyes.  She excels at taking known history and rendering it into riveting fiction.  Her characters are thoughtful, the plot moves along at a near-perfect pace, and her knowledge of the time period is impressive.  At no point does she allow history to become boring.

There is an impressive list of characters to help you keep track of who's who (you'll need it!) and a very impressive author's note when all is said and done.  Both are very much appreciated by this historical fiction afficianado. 

Higginbotham  this is what separates the good from the "meh" historical fiction authors:  to write within the confines of known history.  After all, any writer could just make up their own history and hide behind the fiction label.  Many, in fact, do.  This doesn't make them terrible writers, but historical fiction authors are generally held to a higher standard.

A good historical fiction author writes a fabulous novel in spite of historical limitations.  Not an easy task.  So hats off to Susan Higginbotham and others of her tier who consistently write historical fiction for the history lover.





Dear Mr. FTC Man,

This book magically appeared on our doorstep.  And if Sourcebooks hadn't gifted it to us, A Reader's Respite would have bought it the day it hit the shelves.  Since this particular author is one of our favorites, the book has become a part of our permanent collection and as such, you'll have to pry it out of our cold, dead hands.  Good luck with that.

Most sincerely,

A Reader's Respite

Review: To Hold the Crown

To Hold the Crown, by Jean Plaidy











Regular readers will already know that A Reader's Respite has a love affair with historical fiction author Jean Plaidy.

It's Plaidy that we turn to when we crave a good comfort-read.

This novel is Plaidy's take on the story of the marriage between King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York: the marriage which effectively ended the War of the Roses by uniting the houses of York and Lancaster.

Not the most flattering portraits, are they? I'd lop off the head of the painter if it were me.

Like her other historical fiction novels, To Hold the Crown will never be compared to, say, a Sharon Kay Penman novel. Plaidy, rather, exists in a class of her own: solid writing and a good historical foundation make her stories feel comfortable.

Kind of like your favorite pair of old sneakers.

The story of Henry and Elizabeth has been written about numerous times, but I still think Plaidy does it best. You won't find any heros or villains in this story. Instead you'll find human beings who make mistakes and are trying to do the best they can with the tools they have. Plaidy is the consummate professional: she presents each character in a fair light, flaws and all, and allows the readers to draw their own conclusions, as opposed to leading you to those conclusions.

Those of you who are still tracking down the infamous Princes in the Tower will find an interesting idea as to their ultimate fate within these pages. Plaidy, as always, is plausible and sharp as a tack.


What didn't I like? The darned new cover chosen by Three Rivers Press!

The picture of a woman's bare shoulder and obscured face required a second glance every time I looked at it....like one of those "what do you see?" photos that psychologists are always foisting on us (or is it just me?):

What do you see? Old crone with a kerchief on her head or a pretty young girl looking over her shoulder?

For now, I'll forgive Three Rivers Press simply because they are reprinting so many of Plaidy's historical fiction novels.

If you haven't read one, do so soon. And if you've read Sandra Worth's recent novel, The King's Daughter, you'll recognize that the subject matter is the same. For my money, I recommend Plaidy's version for a more complete and perhaps a more realistic look at the lives of Henry and Elizabeth.





Title: To Hold the Crown
Author: Jean Plaidy
ISBN-13: 978-0307346193 (pbk.)
416 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Date: October 7, 2008
Originally Published as Uneasy Lies the Head in 1982


Looking for another opinion? Look no further, I found one for you:

Devourer of Books

Review: The King's Daughter

The King's Daughter, by Sandra Worth





A Quick Synopsis
This is a historical fiction novel about Elizabeth of York, daughter of England's King Edward IV, wife of King Henry VII, and mother of King Henry VIII. Told in first person narrative, the story follows Elizabeth from her childhood to her death at the age of 37.

Elizabeth of York

The Literary Criticism
It is important to understand that author Sandra Worth was taking a chance here: many of the characters that appear in The King's Daughter (Elizabeth Woodville, Richard III, Henry VII, et al) have sharply divided both historians and historical fiction readers for years and as the old saying goes, you simply cannot please everyone all of the time.

Being relatively open-minded when it comes to any of these historical figures often frees me to read many books that might offend others, although I freely admit to being particular downright picky about historical fiction in general. Writers such as Sharon Kay Penman, Dorothy Dunnett and, more recently, Michelle Moran have set the bar, as it were, quite high. As a result, I am more critical than perhaps I ought to be when picking up a historical novel.

Perhaps The King's Daughter and I started off on the wrong foot. The word "woe!" is uttered four times within the first six pages. Melodramatic, thought I.

I also took exception to the good versus evil characterizations in the novel. Elizabeth Woodville, the mother of Elizabeth of York, is not just portrayed as ambitious, she is downright evil. Every nasty historical rumor ever uttered about this controversial woman was played out in this novel. She is a practicing witch, a hateful mother who engages in out-and-out physical cat fights with her daughter, a scheming harridan who would pimp out her virgin daughter to obtain throne of England. While there is enough historical evidence to conclude that Woodville was ambitious to a fault, the heaps of evil attributed to her in The King's Daughter ends up detracting from Worth's argument: that it was her ambition that significantly contributed to the ultimate demise of the Yorkists.

Richard III and Queen Anne, on the other hand, are presented as veritable saints. Not simply good people with only honorable intentions, but with a domesticity that could have been much more convincing were it not so drenched in saccharine. The perfect King, so in love with his perfect Queen, living in a fairy tale that the evil Lancastrians want to destroy. Again, a sound premise that was taken to a theatrical extreme.

King Richard III and Queen Anne

It must be said that Worth did not scrimp on the research for this novel. While there is no absolute evidence for many of the conclusions she reaches in the novel, this is quite within the historical fiction author's purveyance. The conclusions may have been more convincing, in my opinion, with more subtlety. It is indeed possible that Elizabeth harbored a love for her uncle and wished to marry him, but passages such as "We were never alone again after Anne's death, but our hearts were one each time our eyes met" were ever-so-slightly over the top.

I felt the novel greatly improved as the chapters went by. Once Richard kicked the bucket and Woodville headed off to the nunnery, things became far less melodramatic. Worth's characterization of Henry VII was temperate and because of this, quite believable. In fact, the novel improved so much that I even found flashes of absolute brilliance, such as the references to Machiavelli during Henry's reign. (Loved that!)

The basics of this novel are present: good research and plausible conclusions. I can't help but think that if Worth had just scaled it back a bit on the characterizations, this would have a very good piece of historical fiction instead of a fairy tale-esque melodrama.


The Recommendation
Whether or not you seek out a copy of The King's Daughter is going to depend entirely on your taste in historical fiction. If you've come to expect the quality of Penman, you might feel this one misses the mark, at least for the first half of the novel. But if you're more flexible with your historical fiction and can overlook the initial histrionics, you'll likely enjoy this read.



Title: The King's Daughter
Author: Sandra Worth
ISBN-13: 978-0425221440
416 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Date: December 2, 2008

More reviews of this book in Blogland:

S. Krishna's Books
Cheryl's Book Nook
Reading With Monie
Devourer of Books
A Biblio Paradise



*Would you like to read this book? Leave me a comment and I'll draw a random name at on Friday and send it on to you!

Review: The Queen's Secret

The Queen's Secret by Jean Plaidy


4 out of 5 stars


Book Source: Amazon.com


For many fans of historical fiction, Jean Plaidy's books are a treasure. For me, they are like a favorite blanket: perhaps a little dated and not on the cutting edge of a fad, but something familiar and comfortable.

The Queen's Secret, originally published in 1990 by G.P. Putnam's Sons and then reissued by Three Rivers Press in 2007, was one of Plaidy's later works and tells the story of Katherine of Valois, wife of Henry V, mother to Henry VII and by virtue of her second marriage to Owen Tudor, the founder of the Tudor kings of England.

The story is told in Katherine's voice and begins with her childhood in France as the daughter of King Charles VI, known to history as King Charles the Mad. Unable to maintain his lucidity or authority, France deteriorated into civil war in the early 15th century and the English, led by King Henry V, were able to divide, invade and conquer.

In the aftermath of the infamous Battle of Agincourt (remember? Shakespeare, anyone?), a tenative peace treaty was negotiated which acknowledged Henry to be the successor to the French crown once mad King Charles kicked the proverbial bucket and also threw in poor Katherine to sweeten the pot for Henry. They were married soon after and she bore him one child who would later become King Henry VI, although her new husband croaked soon after.

Being a widow turned out to be a good thing for Katherine. She fell in love with a Welsh commoner named Owen Tudor. They married in secret and went on to have four children, through which the Tudor line of kings would emerge. For those unfamiliar with this part of English history, I won't give away the ending, but it is a compelling tale.
Plaidy is, as usual, very true to her characters and historical facts. The voice of Katherine is almost child-like, which helps Plaidy disseminate the convoluted politics of the day in a manner readers can easily keep up with, but also likely reflects Katherine's actual knowledge of events. Despite being Queen of England, there seems to be little historical evidence that Katherine had anything to do with political intrigue. The dialog is beautifully simple, as well. Think Anna Sewell and Black Beauty.

The only complaint I had was a slight mix-up in the author's own timeline: in the story, Katherine and Owen, we are told, become lovers on the night that Katherine's young son, Henry VI, is taken from her at the age of two to be raised in another household. Later, we skip ahead in time and young Henry is now five years old when Katherine discovers she is pregnant by Owen. Plaidy writes

"Why I should have been so surprised, I cannot imagine. Owen and I had been passionate lovers for some months."
Katherine in The Queen's Secret

Well, I suppose three years can be considered "some months," but the inconsistency leaped out at me. This, coupled with the constant foreshadowing of doom and gloom, were my only bugaboos about the story.

But these small flaws should be overlooked in the face of such a wonderful tale. This is a time period not often covered by historical fiction authors. Katherine and her contemporaries, such as Joan of Arc, were to change the fate both England and France. I highly recommend this read to any historical fiction fan as it makes accessible a time period too often overlooked.

I mentioned at the beginning of this review that Three Rivers Press reissued this novel in 2007. They have done so with a handful of Jean Plaidy books. If you enjoy her work and would like to see more (since many of her older books are quite difficult to find these days), please contact Three Rivers Press (a division of Random House) and express your interest in order to keep them coming!

Title: The Queen's Secret
Author: Jean Plaidy
403 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4000-8252-0
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Date: 2007