Lady of the Roses
Sandra Worth
Reviewed by Amy
Lignor
Isobel Ingoldesthrope is the fifteen years old and
also a
ward in Queen Marguerite’s Lancastrian court.
She is so lovely that suitors are vying for her hand left and
right,
begging the Queen to take their money in order to marry the young girl. But Isobel has a far different wish. She has met and fallen head over heels with
Sir John Neville, the brother to famed Yorkist leader Warwick the
Kingmaker. These two young people could
perhaps stop the war with their union and give a strong reason for the
York and
Lancaster houses to unite in peace.
The proposal goes along well at first. The
Queen accepts the hefty price for young
Isobel and allows the marriage to go forth.
Unfortunately, the Queen’s madness and Warwick’s
(more heroic, yet just as prideful beliefs) make it impossible for the
fighting
to end.
As the lawless battles spring up around Isobel and John, the
pain and sadness of war creep into their lives, stealing their families
and
hope away with each breath the families take.
This is Isobel’s story. Entangled
between the White Rose and the Red, she must use her voice and her love
for
John to stop the corrupt Lancastrian court and the madness of a French
Queen. She fears nothing except the loss
of the one man she can’t live without and she is more than willing to
jump into
the thorns of both Roses – risking her death to ensure her husband’s
life.
I think Isobel is a fantastic character. Her
charisma and charm break through every
page as she grows up page by page from an innocent girl to a woman
ready to do
battle. John Neville and his brother are
the most handsome gallant men that you’d ever want to read about. And John is a hopeless romantic on top of his
‘head for war.’ You wish so many times
that they could both go to a cabin in the woods somewhere and just
forget about
the Red and the White for the rest of their lives and simply enjoy each
other’s
company.
You have to also love King Henry. He is
like a four year old child running the
country (not so different from nowadays, huh? J) But Henry, even with his mind out the window,
is still a force to be reckoned with.
You route for him, hoping that he’ll wake up in time and see the
travesty that his wife is heaping upon the shoulders of Englishmen. And the Queen herself? Best
‘wicked one’ since Snow White!
But the best thing about this novel? REAL
HISTORY, Dear Readers. Not the junk that
someone cooks up and throws
in some ‘romance novel.’ This writer is
so connected with her time period that I find myself actually in the
bloody march on London by
the Duke
of Lancaster. I can feel the madness of
the Queen as she turns crazy before my eyes.
This book is nothing short of great and I am embarrassed to say
this is
the third book that this author has written about the War of the Roses
and I am
going – no, running – to the library to get the other two.
Enjoy!