Anne O'Brien (1) (1949–)

As the eldest daughter, Johane de Greneville takes her father's full inheritance into her marriage where as her sisters are sent to a convent. Fortunately Johane grows to care deeply for her husband, Roger Mortimer, and they have many happy years growing their family and lands. However, when Roger falls foul of the King's new favourite, Hugh de Despenser, their life falls apart. Roger is improsoned in the Tower of London and Johane is kept in close confinement in the north. Roger escapes but five years later when they meet again, Roger is rising in power due to his new and adulterous relationship with Queen Isabella.
O'Brien's novels are incredibly consistent. She builds a romance around a minor female character but one which encompasses an important period of medieval history. Set against the life and death of Edward II, Johane is the forgotten wife of Roger Mortimer. By telling the story from her perspective, O'Brien looks are the emotions but what should not be forgotten is the excellent of the research and historical accuracy.… (meer)

A child born in the plague year of 1348, abandoned and raised within the oppressive walls of a convent, Alice Perrers refused to take the veil, convinced that a greater destiny awaited her. Ambitious and quick witted, she rose above her obscure beginnings to become the infamous mistress of Edward III. But always, essentially, she was alone...

Early in Alice’s life, a chance meeting with royalty changes everything: Kindly Queen Philippa, deeply in love with her husband but gravely ill, chooses Alice as a lady-in-waiting. Under the queen’s watchful eye, Alice dares to speak her mind. She demands to be taken seriously. She even flirts with the dynamic, much older king. But she is torn when her vibrant spirit captures his interest...and leads her to a betrayal she never intended.

In Edward’s private chambers, Alice discovers the pleasures and paradoxes of her position. She is the queen’s confidante and the king’s lover, yet she can rely only on herself. It is a divided role she was destined to play, and she vows to play it until the bitter end. Even as she is swept up in Edward’s lavish and magnificent court, amassing wealth and influence for herself, becoming an enemy of his power-hungry son John of Gaunt, and a sparring partner to resourceful diplomat William de Windsor, she anticipates the day when the political winds will turn against her. For when her detractors voice their hatred,and accusations of treason swirl around her,threatening to destroy everything she has achieved, who will stand by Alice then?

As O'Brien admits – little is known about Perriers, and after a period of time the court of Edward III (as his mistress), she disappears from history with little known about where she came from or where she went. What is known about her is rarely good (as the saying goes – history is written by the winners)

O'Brien uses this slight frame to allow her to use her historical imagination to build a story around this woman, who was born into nothing, but came to the top of the land, and became wealthy and landed, only to lose much of it.

Whilst Alice is a strong willed and (at times) clever woman, she can also be short sighted, and her stubbornness can lead to her own trouble. On occasion she struggles to see that some of her troubles are her own fault, and can be very un-self-aware – blaming others for the situations she finds herself in. She regularly finds herself in situations where people (especially men) dont like being confronted by people challenging the status quo, especially women who come into money and property, and she chaffs at being unable to being denied recompense for her work simply for being a woman. She ends up being accused of witchcraft, fraud and treason, is banished (twice) and only keeps hold of her estates when her cunning husband (whom she married in secret) quite legally claims her property as his own.

Alice has a number of children with the King, but are rarely mentioned in the story – Alice seems to have no regrets with leaving the babies with nurses as she returns to Court, and the most amount of time spent with them is after the King's death.

I had no issue with the way it was written – some other reviewers have decried the length and believe O'Brien could have done with an editor. So whilst the book was a reasonable story, Alice is not a totally sympathetic character.… (meer)

Margaret Paston is the ultimate matchmaker. She is always trying to arrange marriages for her sons and daughters, particularly the daughters. Her efforts fill the entire book. She was only happy, though, with one of her son's choices for a bride and feels her daughters married beneath their socioeconomic level. She was so angry at Margery that she threw Margery out of the house and didn't associate with Margery for over ten years. Margery didn't care. Daughter Anne threatened to secretly marry the man she loved but succumbed to pressure to marry someone else who had money. Anne was strong and made the best of her situation. What Margaret did not see was that her daughters were just as strong willed as Margaret. As tough as Margaret was, her children were even tougher.

The Anne Haute subplot was the one I least enjoyed reading about. The story of how she met and fell in love with Margaret's son John was interesting. However, John put off formalizing their marriage for nine years and his decisions to fight in wars to avoid marriage was dull. Son Jonty made a good selection for a bride, financially that is, and he and wife Gilly were in love with each other.

I was surprised when a plague occurred. I had forgotten that the story took place in the 1400s. Neither the time nor the setting were prominent. Margaret's machinations were the substance of the book. This hard as nails lady carried the story well.… (meer)