Today it is my pleasure to take part in the BlogTour for The Blood of the Red Rose by P.J. Gray. It is a detailed and well researched story which combines historical facts with fictional characters to create an engrossing read.
About the Author
Philippa was born in Chichester and developed a passion for history whilst growing up in Cyprus and then North Yorkshire. She began writing when she was at junior school, winning the school prize for English, and wrote and illustrated her own stories which she read to her long-suffering friends. She started her first novel, Blood of the Red Rose, when her elder daughter was a baby and finally completed it twenty-eight years later. Philippa has two daughters, four grandchildren and a grand-cat and now lives in Cyprus with Paul, her husband of twenty-five years, three dogs and four cats.
Visit Facebook/BloodoftheRedRose
Buy Blood of the Red Rose
About the book
Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, finds himself exiled in France when Warwick the Kingmaker puts Edward IV on the throne of England. Desperate to return the throne to the rightful King Henry VI, Beaufort finds himself caught between Henry's bitter wife Marguerite of Anjou and the French 'Spider' King Louis until Edward and Warwick fall out in spectacular style and, at Louis' urging, Warwick becomes their unlikely ally. Set on the rich stage of the Wars of the Roses, this is a tale of intrigue, love and war that can only end in tragedy.
Whilst Warwick's relationship with his illegitimate daughter Kate is loving and caring, it doesn't gel with the way he uses his other children to create political bridges and liaisons. In fact the way he barters with Anne and Isobel, or rather their worth as brides, is a more accurate representation of the way men viewed and treated women at that time in history. Although it is moving and more sentimental from a storyline perspective, keeping in mind that Kate is a fictional addiction to the historical events, it is probably more likely that Warwick would have used her in the same way as her half-sisters.
Another interesting aspect of the book was the way the author portrayed Margaret of Anjou. Known in history as a strong woman with a fierce sense of loyalty to her own cause and a ruthless approach to achieving or retrieving what she believed to be rightfully owing to her family.
In this book we see the bitter, vindictive and disappointed woman. Her reaction is interesting considering the rumours that either Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, or James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, were possibly the real biological father of her son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. There is however no evidence to support these rumours and Henry VI acknowledged him as his son and heir.
Despite the machinations going on around them Kate and Beau are drawn into a passionate affair with possibly disastrous implications for a young girl who has a less than solid standing in life.
Gray has combined historical facts with fictional characters and scenarios. It's so realistic and sails so close to true events that I had to double-check some of them were actually fictional events and characters.
What she does exceptionally well is capture the intrigue and the lack of certainty during that era. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York determined the path of British history and the royal lineage. A time of betrayal, destruction and lack of trust, whilst grown men and women played their own game of thrones.
In the midst of the intrigue a mutual attraction leads to an ill-fated affair which ends tragically and leaves one of them in a precarious position. It's a detailed venture into a era full of conflict and disruption with a doomed mutual attraction featured in the midst of it all.
Buy Blood of the Red Rose at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Release Date: 14th August 2018
Follow @Authoright on Twitter
Follow the rest of the BlogTour:
Monday 13th August Between the Pages Book Club
Tuesday 14th August Portable Magic
Thursday 16th August Cheryl M-M’s Book Blog
Friday 17th August Love Books Group
Saturday
18th August Cupcake Mumma
Monday
20th August Jazzy Book Reviews
Tuesday
21st August Celticlady’s Reviews
Wednesday
22nd August Jennifer C Wilson
Thursday
23rd August Blue Striped Square
Saturday
25th August Yet Another Blogging Mummy!!!
Sunday
26th August Donna’s Book Blog
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