Customer Reviews

The Reluctant Queen: The Story of Anne of York (A Queens of England Novel)

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This eighth book in the "Queens of England" series by the author, a master storyteller also known to her legion of fans as Victoria Holt, focuses on the life of Lady Anne of York, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, who went on to become Queen of England as the wife of King Richard III. Her story, told in a first person narrative, is an absorbing work of historical fiction.

The War of Roses has ended and the great Earl of Warwick, the richest and most powerful lord in England, is known as the kingmaker for having ensured that the former Duke of York be crowned King Edward IV, after having deposed mad King Henry VI of the house of Lancaster. The Earl of Warwick's family, the Nevilles, are in positions of power. Then, the King marries Elizabeth Woodville, and it is the Woodvilles that are on the ascent and the Nevilles in decline. The Earl of Warwick, who had thought himself to be the power behind the throne, suddenly finds that he has supported a King who has every intention of being his own man. This is a notion that is anathema to Warwick, and he uses his two daughters, Isabel and Anne, as pawns in a dangerous game of political intrigue.

After her father's death in battle during a political falling out with King Edward IV, Anne goes on to marry the love of her life, the King's younger brother, Richard. Through her eyes the reader sees all the political intrigues of the day and the rise and fall of various personages, as the political winds shift. Despite all of the turbulence around her, Anne and Richard live many happy years in Northern England, far from the Court of King Edward IV.

When the King dies, her world radically changes. Richard, who was chosen to be Lord Protector of the Realm by his brother, chooses, instead, to declare his nephew, Edward V, illegitimate, and himself the King. What happens to his nephew, Edward V, as well as Edward's younger brother, remains a mystery to this day. Through Anne's eyes, we see her view her changing world with dismay and trepidation, as her husband changes into someone she barely recognizes, and she is thrust into a role for which she had no desire, that of Queen of England.

This is a wonderfully told work of historical fiction by a superlative storyteller. The reader need not have read the prior volumes in the series before reading this one. Each book in the series stands on its own. The entire series, however, is a must read for all those who enjoy well written, historical fiction.

I probably shouldn't write this review as I'm somewhat biased being (a) Jean Plaidy's #1 fan, and (b) fascinated by the Richard III history/myth.

Was he as black as history (or more specifically, Thomas Moore and Shakespeare) make out? Etc. etc. But I didn't realise that the life of Anne Neville was so interesting as well. Shades of the Boleyn family. However, never being one to allow my personal biase to get in the way, I have to say I loved this book. And, I suspect, I'll love it the next time I pick it up and read it again. It has everything: it has Jean Plaidy's wonderfully easy writing style, historical and political intrigue, and it's all put together using a wealth of hard-slog research. Overall, a great read, and one I'd enthusiastically recommend.

This is the story of the tragic Anne of York, wife and queen of Richard III. Born the daughter of the Kingmaker, Anne falls in love with Richard as a child. Used as a pawn by her father, Anne is betrothed to the erstwhile Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI, then imprisoned by her brother-in-law (and Richard's brother), then finally married to the man of her dreams. But, her happiness is always tinged with sadness and tragedy.

This is a little-known queen with a very interesting story to tell. Plaidy weaves an interesting first-person narrative.

This is the story of the wife of Richard III of England. Although he is often cast as a villain in history, in this book he is more tragic, misguided, but well intentioned than anything else. Anne and Richard fell in love as children, and due to a series of strange circumstances, are able to marry. However, when Richard unexpectedly comes into power, the happy life the couple built for themselves is thrown into disarray and they find that positions of power are perhaps not all they are cracked up to be.

Quote: "My thoughts were all for Richard and soem time later I was to hear the truth of all this from his lips. Then I learned how near he had come to failure; and had thigns gone against him at this time our lives might have turned otu to be entirely different."

This is a pretty good historical novel - even though the princes in the tower are only vaguely referenced toward the end of the work, enough evidence is presented throughout the narrative that the reader is presented with a large number of people who could be responsible for the deaths of the heirs to the English throne. Richard III is the last monarch from the house of York, and the events before and after his death lead to the famous Tudors coming into power, and many were working for this possibility. Overall I found it to be very balanced - Richard is neither a monster, nor a saint, just a basically decent guy who is altered by power.

Sweet and good natured Anne Neville was extraordinary woman. As documented she truly was vegetarian. A woman born centuries before before her time. She was born during the height of the bitter rival of family house feuds known as the War of the Roses. Her father had had the power to influence many key players in the war including kings of England. Anne was House of York, daughter of the Earl of Warwick the known king maker. In the end of the war her father changed his allegiance after the new king Edward VI married Elizabeth Woodville in secret and he sided with the enemy. Betrothing his daughter Anne to the much despised heir of the Lancasterian French Queen Margaret and King Henry IV, Edward of Westminster.

Anne was thrust into Margaret's care as betrothed to her son being her future daughter in law. Her father Warwick intended to replace Edward VI with Anne's newly betrothed. As I have come to conclude about this time period is that all the events that happened were because nothing went ever according to plan and too many people died before they finished their plotting and scheming. Leaving many needy messes that need resolution. I had always been interested in the story of how Anne of York was hidden from Richard as a servant girl in a cook house. Many other books I have read have made reference to the story as a dramatic love story to which young girls day dream about. When Richard storms the cook shop to swoop in and save her it was the high point of the whole book.

Jean put a logically interesting spin on a fragmented true story of love conquering all, including your own family who can do the most harm. In the end I find myself left feeling a mix of feelings. The whole book was very detailed about the politics's of court. I feel disappointed that the book trailed of into Richard's rein. Anne faded into the background and events were missed or never even touched upon that I had kind of expected to be there. It was a short good read but I am left with unresolved feelings. Maybe I have it wrong and it belongs in a series but I am starting to notice a trend of that with books set during the war of he roses.

Jean Plaidy's Queens of England series give fascinating insight into the lives of their subjects, and combine richly human and sensitive portrayals with attention to detail, and a love of English history.

The story of Anne Neville, the sensitive and intelligent daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who as a little girl falls in love with Richard, Duke of Gloucester, second son of the Duke of York, later to be Richard III.

A balanced account of Richard III, portraying him as neither the devil portrayed by Shakespeare and Thomas Moore or the saint that some believe him to have been

Essentially a man changed by power.

The real villains of the peace are George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Richard' and King Edward IV.

Anne is forced to be betrothed to Prince of Wales Edward, and exiled in France, later becomes a war of Clarence and imprisoned in a cook shop in Chepeside on the orders of Clarence, rescued by Richard, and finally the two are married.

But turmoil continues to shadow her life as events put Richard on the throne and political intrigue and conflict continue to dog England.

The circumstances of the murder of the two princes in the tower are left open as are the circumstances of Anne's own death at the end of the novel.

Rich characterization and depth.

Wonderful read. Author was very inventive. Lots of information on Richard III the Duke of Gloucester. So many think of him as evil. Glad this book was more truthful about the 2 nephews and Richard's relationship with both brothers, George and King Edward.

I have to admit up front that I'm a devoted Jean Plaidy fan and I'm thrilled to see her books being reprinted. Having discovered her in the past fifteen years or so, I've had to "treasure hunt" out of print copies in various corners of the earth (not a bad thing!) Her books are the consummate combination of style meets subject. I've learned so much about the Tudor queens, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, the two Marys. Pick up any and all of her books, they don't need to be read in order but if you do you will have educated yourself about a huge piece of British history, a subject that is endlessly fascinating thanks to Jean Plaidy's talent.

For the reviewer who wrote that this novel was "more studded with errors than a holiday ham", I whole heartedly agree with you. I think the most obvious error can be seen on the back of the book in the summary: "In 1470, a reluctant Lady Anne Neville is betrothed by her father, the politically ambitious Earl of Warwick, to Edward, Prince of Wales. A gentle yet fiercely intelligent woman, Anne has already given her heart to the prince's younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester." Edward of Lancaster never had a brother. Everybody that knows anything about Richard III would know this. Secondly, another thing that bugged me was the fact that at the end of the novel at Anne's death, it states that she was 30 years old. Anne never lived to be 30! She died when she was 28. While keeping that in mind, Richard is 4 years older than her, so according to the book that would have made him 34! Richard died when he was 32! Apart from the errors in this book, it was a rather dull read. Anne is depicted as helpless and I found her character to be boring. If you want to read a much better (and highly more interesting!) depiction of Anne and Richard, you should read "The Sunne In Splendor".

I've only heard of Richard III fleetingly. I've never read the play and I've only heard that he was defeated and he wasn't loved by the English people.

So coming into this book I was a bit interested to see the take on him. "Written" by his wife, Anne Neville, she sees Richard as a person who can do no wrong, until he is made Lord Protector, and then King of England. But she still gives him the benefit of the doubt and makes him seem as if he is just trying to do the best he can for the country he is trying to serve with traitors all about him; the people fairly uninterested in him.

Anne is....ok. A little boring. She tends to try and see the good in everyone, but when she doesn't like someone she doesn't really give them a chance. She highly dislikes George, Richard's and Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, and her sister's husband. Granted it's warranted because he did have her kidnapped and sent to live in a cookshop in Chepe. But she only meets Edward, the Prince of Wales, and Henry VI's and Margaret of Anjou's son fleetingly and bases her like, or rather dislike, on how he looks at her and a story. I don't remember her ever really talking to him at all. I do believe she was prejudice because he was of the House of Lancaster, and she, of the House of York, and she didn't want to marry him, but was being forced to because of the deal her father made with Margaret to restore Henry to power and eventually her son, Edward, would be King of England.

This book does explain the reasoning behind the War of the Roses. Between the Houses of York and Lancaster it was eventually won by the House of Lancaster through Henry Tudor(Henry VII.) But in the book the war has stopped with Edward IV. Anne's father, the Earl of Warwick, is the most powerful man in England and is known as the Kingmaker. Because he sets Edward up as King, he feels he can run the country through Edward, but that turns out to be a drastic mistake. Edward can think for himself and marries Elizabeth Woodville, a woman of no standing.

This creates a problem for the House of Neville. Because the queen is so prized in Edward's eyes he gives into her and she puts her people into positions of power. This doesn't work for Warwick and he ends up having to fight the king, and he eventually loses his life, which is devastating to Anne and her family.

But in the end she ends up marrying her love, Richard. They do start out living a relatively quiet life in the North, in Middleham where she eventually gives birth to a boy, Edward, who ends up being very weak, and dies after living about 11 years. This is a bit of a set up because Anne isn't very strong herself and this leads to her suspicions of Elizabeth's and Edwards's daughter Elizabeth and a supposed affair with her and her husband. Also her infertility plauges her, as well as a cough.

I wasn't too happy with the ending of the book. I felt like her time as queen was really very short(compared to the rest of the novel) and she didn't explain what it was like to be queen at all really. She spent most of it talking about her son and his eventual loss. I felt like more could have been spent on that account since this is a book about a Queen of England. I also felt like more attention could have been paid to the mystery of the two princes.

As to whether Richard usurped the throne or whether the boys were truly illegit we'll never know, but it does bring about a change in Richard that I didn't really like at all. Or he was truly more ambitious than we were lead to believe.