Blood and Roses – the Story of Margaret of Anjou and her pivotal role in the bloody dynastic struggle which was the Wars of the Roses.
“An accomplished, absorbing tale.” Antonia Senior, The Times
1460
The English Crown – a bloodied, restless prize.
The one contender strong enough to hold it? A woman. Margaret of Anjou: a French Queen in a hostile country, born to rule but refused the right, shackled to a King lost in a shadow-land.
When a craving for power becomes a crusade, when two rival dynasties rip the country apart in their desire to rule it and thrones are the spoils of a battlefield, the stakes can only rise. And if the highest stake you have is your son? You play it.
Blood and Roses tells the story of Margaret of Anjou (1430-82), wife of Henry VI, revising a woman frequently imagined only as the shadowy figure demonised by Shakespeare. This novel examines Margaret as a queen, a wife and a mother desperately trying to stave off the judgement of history by writing her own truth—a desire she knows is almost certainly doomed. It unfolds a web of intrigue, shifting alliances and secrets, revealing Margaret as a woman forced to play the highest stakes to pull a throne from the spoils of the battlefield.
Available from Waterstones, Guardian Bookshop, Amazon, Yolk and independent booksellers – https://www.catherinehokin.com/