The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou in Q&A With Susan Higginbotham

Jan 06, 2011 Susan added it · (Review from the author)

Well, I wrote it, but it is on my bookshelf!

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Sep 11, 2010 Elysium rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, wars-of-roses, books-i-own, read-in-2011, medieval, for-review

Margaret of Anjou is married to Henry VI with hopes of making peace between England and France. But Margaret won’t find her life easy in England; the peace doesn’t succeed, people won’t trust her because she’s French and her being unable to produce heir doesn’t help. When she finally gives birth to a boy after 8 years, rumours starts guessing who the father really is. Then there is Richard, Duke of York, who believes that he has stronger claim to the throne and when Henry goes mad, he believes h ...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Amy Bruno rated it really liked it

Shelves: arcs, historical-fiction, war-of-the-roses, read-in-2010, england, 15th-century, margaret-of-anjou, henry-vi

Much of my readings on the War of the Roses have been from the Yorkist point of view, painting the matriarch of the Lancaster faction, Margaret of Anjou, as the devil incarnate, a she-wolf capable of devouring small (preferable Yorkist) children. So, when I saw that Susan Higginbotham was coming out with a novel on Margaret, I knew this would be my opportunity to read about the real woman behind the myth.

Born to Queen Rene and Queen Isabelle of Anjou, Margaret was betrothed to King Henry at age ...more

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Oct 20, 2010 Sara Giacalone rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, favorites

My biggest issue with Susan's books is they end! I really enjoyed this one - it was very interesting to get a Lancastrian perspective on the Wars of the Roses, and to see a different view of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. It's true that Susan makes them very likable, yet manages to stick mostly to facts. Of course she does take some artistic liberties; I enjoyed her embilleshments about Margaret's relationship with Somerset and thought the story plausable. This is one I'm sure I'll want to read ...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Kristina Church milashus rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book, although I really hated reading it. Weird review, I know. I always root for the underdog. In this case, the underdogs being Henry VI and his queen, Margaret of Anjou. Now prior to reading this, I had read nothing good of Queen Margaret, which is wholly unfair. I think that she acted in the same way any other mother, let alone the queen and mother to the heir to the throne would act....do everything within her power to restore her husband the king and protect her son's ...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Susan rated it really liked it

The protagonist of the novel, Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, is most often depicted as one of the evils of the Wars of the Roses. Thanks to Susan Higginbotham's well written novel, I now have some other ideas about Margaret to think about. The Wars of the Roses is complex and I don't think I'll ever have it all straight in my mind, but Susan's novel helped me with several aspects, particularly with some of the nobility that participated in the Wars. Susan, I especially appreciated you ...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Svea rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, wars-of-the-roses

When it comes to the Wars of the Roses, there are always a couple questions that come to mind: are you of a Yorkist or a Lancasterian opinion? Did Richard III kill the princes in the tower? Was Richard III a corrupt and merciless man? These questions are often the focus of many historical novels set during this time period, and it is not very often that a book is written with an emphasis of how it all began. The Queen of Last Hopes begins with Margaret of Anjou preparing to leave for England, wh ...more

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Oct 12, 2010 Kathleen Kelly rated it really liked it

Shelves: finished, books-to-read-for-reviews

Margaret of Anjou, born and raised in France until the age of 15 at which time she became the wife of King Henry VI. She was the Queen Consort of England, twice. Her husband King Henry VI had frequent bouts of insanity thus having Margaret ruling England in his place. She was one of the main figures in what was called The War of the Roses, between Lancastrians and Yorkists. Lots of intrique and switching of loyalties by some main characters.There was a long time animosity between Margaret and th ...more

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Jul 26, 2015 Carla Nayland added it

Sympathetic portrait of Margaret of Anjou and her role in the Wars of the Roses in fourteenth-century England.
Review: http://www.carlanayland.org/reviews/q... ...more

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