The Goldsmith's Wife [Mass Market Paperback]

Jean Plaidy who is also Victoria Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 1981

The Goldsmith's Wife was eighteen year old Jane Shore whose golden beauty brought England's greatest lover to woo her in disguise. Exchanging Cheapside for Westminster, she became the favourite mistress of Edward IV and set his brilliant, profligate court ablaze with merriment. Whatever the consequences, nothing mattered to Jane beside the passion aroused by Edward's touch.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (December 12, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449228916
• ISBN-13: 978-0449228913
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,317,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, December 13, 2000

By 

J. Baker (Columbus, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Goldsmith's Wife (Hardcover)

What a marvellous story. From the cradle to the grave, we follow a woman who has the (mis)fortune to win the heart of the King. And Plaidy, true to form, plops the story right into the middle of history-in-the-making, where Jane Shore is driven by her passion to love first Edward IV and then finds herself in quite a bind, again and again. Jane could choose a simple, easy life with her betrothed - or she can risk everything for the love and heart of a King. I really enjoy how Plaidy doesn't gloss over anything in her novels about the lives her characters live. From the simplest acts such as cooking and riding and everyday life, to the massive banquets and the punishments for criminals of the day, Plaidy gives her readers an "inside view" into what life was really like in Medeival times -- and you don't realize that you are learning until you've finished the book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and passionate, October 12, 2008

By 

Gary Selikow (Great Kush) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Goldsmith's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)

An engagingly written dramatic novel about the life of Jane Shore, who was born and grew up in Cheapside, London before being married by her father to a goldsmith, William Shore.

Jane is saucy, wilful, passionate, exquisitely beautiful and with a heart of gold.
She is wooed by King Edward IV in disguise and becomes his favoured mistress. Her compassion for the poor of London and her forgiving nature prove her as a saint.
The death of Edward and the power of King Richard leads her into being drawn into intrigues by her passion for Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset and also becomes the mistress William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings.
Shore outlines her view of the relationship of mistress Shore to these men.
After the fall of Hastings, Jane is forced to do a cruel penance of being walking through London in a procession, dressed only in a kirtle and carrying a taper, to St Paul's cross, watched by ogling men and jeering crowds.
She was then imprisoned in the ghastly Ludgate prison in London.
As we follow the life of a phenomenal and engaging woman, who it is impossible not to feel the utmost sympathy for, we get a real window into medieval London.
Plaidy uses the novel also to put forward her theory that the princes in the tower, Edward and Richard, were not killed on the orders of Richard III, but on the orders of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) after he took the throne.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good historical novel, October 18, 2009

By 

Tacy Brooke (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Goldsmith's Wife (Hardcover)

This was an interesting take on a period of history not often written about. It's early Jean Plaidy and not quite as crisp as her modern work, but very interesting and absolutely worth the read. I do recommed this book.