Customer Reviews

The Goldsmith's Wife

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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!

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.

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.