The Traitor's Wife [Paperback]

Susan Higginbotham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A strong woman circumscribed by artificial restrictions imposed on her by her time, her place, and her social standing is a recurrent theme in historical fiction. Higginbotham artfully reworks this theme, fictionalizing the story of Eleanor le Despenser, niece of Edward II and wife of Hugh le Despenser the Younger. As lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabella, Eleanor enjoys her privileged position in the fourteenth-century English court until doubts about her uncle and his seemingly unsavory relationship with her husband begin to creep in. Higginbotham does a superb job of vividly re-creating the royal intrigue and treachery that characterized Edward’s inner circle, while breathing new life into a complex, real-life heroine forced into making decisions that virtually defined the historical destiny of her family. --Margaret Flanagan

Review

"Conveys emotions and relationships quite poignantly . . . entertaining historical fiction." -- Kirkus Discoveries

"[D]ialogue is excellent . . . Higginbotham [brings] these historical figures to life with passion, a wonderful sense of humor, honor, and love." -- Catherine Perkins, Historical Novels Review Online, Autumn 2005

[D]ialogue is excellent . . . Higginbotham [brings] these historical figures to life with passion, a wonderful sense of humor, honor, and love. -- Historical Novels Review Online, Autumn 2005 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402217870
• ISBN-13: 978-1402217876
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Higginbotham's meticulously researched historical fiction brought to life by her heartfelt writing delights readers. Higginbotham runs her own historical fiction/history blog, History Refreshed by Susan Higginbotham, and owns a bulletin board, Historical Fiction Online. She has worked as an editor and an attorney and lives in Apex, North Carolina, with her family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Eleanor le Despenser's story..., February 13, 2008

By 

JaneConsumer (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II (Paperback)

Eleanor de Clare, niece to Edward II, marries Hugh le Despenser when the book opens in 1306. Hugh was quite the character - a pirate, knight, knave or confidant of the king at one time or another. Adopting the consensus of most historians, The Traitor's Wife portrays his relationship with Edward II as a homosexual one. It even suggests there may have been sexual relations between Eleanor and the king, which some historians also believe.

This love triangle is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to scandals during Edward's reign. In fact, this one doesn't even begin until after the death of Piers Gaveston, also alleged to have had homosexual relations with the king. And then there's the scheming of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella, who want to reign - and do for a short while - in all but name.

Even after Hugh le Despenser, and a short time later, Edward II, die, Eleanor's life is anything but uneventful. She marries William la Zouche, the man responsible for capturing Hugh. Then she manages to get herself accused of marrying two different men at the same time. As the author later explains in the afterword, the explanation of this event is fictional. But historical records indicate that John de Grey, a knight, challenged the marriage because he believed Eleanor to have been married to him.

In short, the book is jam-packed with scandal - impeccably researched, which makes for some juicy reading. Moreover, the characters are likeable - perhaps except for Mortimer - even when they're misbehaving.

If you like action-packed medieval drama supported by accurate historical details, you'll love this book. Highly recommended.

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The banality of evil, October 28, 2006

By 

wkbee (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II (Paperback)

I was very interested in reading this book to get a different take on Hugh Despenser and was willing to suspend disbelief. However, even the author can't save him from his notorious deeds. The best she can do for him is make him a loving husband and father who somehow manages to hide from his naive and adoring wife both his physical relationship with Edward II and outright theft of lands and treasure. Eleanor hardly raises an eyebrow even when he wrangles with her own sisters over their rightful inheritence (and wins, of course, with the king on his side). In order to get the reader to have some empathy for Eleanor, it's necessary to keep her in the dark about Hugh's bad behavior, which just makes Eleanor seem witless and unreliable. The way she could be fooled about his true self simply because he was a considerate spouse is unbelievable in a "we didn't know what the Nazis were doing" kind of way. The very modern English used detracts further from the believabilty of the story. Despenser is a tough character to work with if you are determined to have a novel with a sympathetic person at its center. The book might have worked better if Eleanor was not written as a naif but as an active participant in Hugh's activities, which she probably was, since she's long been viewed as a spy planted in Queen Isabella's household. There are many pages devoted to the stories of Despenser's children; the family actually managed to work its way back into royal favor in years to come. That might have been another angle to take - the sons dealing with the legacy of a notorious father. But Hugh as husband of the year? I'm just not buying it.

86 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Soap Opera That Followed Braveheart, September 17, 2006

By 

Floyd M. Orr "Nonfiction in a Fictional Style" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II (Paperback)

King Edward I invaded Scotland, setting off the events more or less chronicled in the fictional book and movie, Braveheart. Edward's son was far less of a war hawk than his dad. His misadventures became the root of many problems that cropped up in the English king's court during the early 1300's. In essence, Edward II was the Bill Clinton of England: you either hated him for his sexual dalliances or you ignored them and respected him for his better qualities. This book is a fictionalized account of the story, as seen through the eyes of the king's niece, Eleanor le Despenser, who was also married to a pirate who shared his bed with both of them. Susan Higginbotham explains the whole, sordid, convoluted history with a conversational style that keeps the action flowing and the reader turning the page. This is quite an impressive first novel.