Publisher: Falcon Historical
Page Length: 350 pages
Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction / Historical Mystery
Synopsis
What if you knew what happened to the Princes in the Tower. Would you tell? Or would you forever keep the secret?
November, 1470: Westminster Abbey. Lady Elysabeth Scrope faces a perilous royal duty when ordered into sanctuary with Elizabeth Woodville–witness the birth of Edward IV’s Yorkist son. Margaret Beaufort, Elysabeth’s sister, is desperately seeking a pardon for her exiled son Henry Tudor. Strategically, she coerces Lancastrian Elysabeth to be appointed godmother to Prince Edward, embedding her in the heart of the Plantagenets and uniting them in a destiny of impossible choices and heartbreaking conflict.
Bound by blood and torn by honour, when the king dies and Elysabeth delivers her young godson into the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation, she is engulfed in political turmoil. Within months, the prince and his brother have disappeared, Richard III is declared king, and Margaret conspires with Henry Tudor to invade England and claim the throne. Desperate to protect her godson, Elysabeth battles the intrigue, betrayal and power of the last medieval court, defying her husband and her sister under her godmother’s sacred oath to keep Prince Edward safe. Were the princes murdered by their uncle, Richard III? Was the rebel Duke of Buckingham to blame? Or did Margaret Beaufort mastermind their disappearance to usher in the Tudor dynasty? Of anyone at the royal court, Elysabeth has the most to lose–and the most to gain–by keeping secret the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
Inspired by England’s most enduring historical mystery, Elizabeth St.John, best-selling author of The Lydiard Chronicles, blends her own family history with known facts and centuries of speculation to create an intriguing alternative story illuminating the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower.
My Thoughts
The Wars of the Roses has always been a fascinating period in history for me. With Richard III's skeleton being found under a carpark in Leicester, England, in 2012, the other great unsolved mystery from that period is what happened to the two young princes in the tower, the sons of Edward IV and heirs to the throne. Were they murdered by Richard III or by some other hand? In her latest novel, Elizabeth St. John offers a very plausible answer to that question which, I'm pleased, absolves their uncle, Richard III.
Lady Elysabeth Scrope reluctantly becomes godmother to Prince Edward but takes her vow to protect him very seriously. She comes to love the boy, in fact both of the young princes, as her own. Political intrigue does not come easily to Elysabeth and she is often manipulated by her younger half-sister, Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor who is an outright contender for the throne. Margaret seizes every opportunity to further her son's cause, even entering into an alliance with Elizabeth Woodville, who is a schemer like Margaret and shares her hatred and distrust of Richard III. Margaret is not adverse at playing all factions against one another and even manipulates the dastardly Duke of Buckingham, another rival for the throne, spectacularly, although his own self-importance played a major role in his downfall.
Elysabeth is not enamoured of Richard III when he takes the throne and removes the princes from public view. Ruthless when dealing with his enemies, she has seen a gentler side to him when interacting with his nephews and cannot believe that he would hurt them. All Elysabeth wants is to remove the bewildered boys from the Tower to a place where they can be looked after properly. While Margaret Beaufort and Buckingham wish this too, they have their own nefarious plans for the boys.
As the novel unfolds from Elysabeth's perspective, we are witness to the dilemmas she faces and the decisions she makes to protect the boys. Her manipulation by others better versed in intrigue and her acknowledgement that at times she had lost control of a particular situation made her vulnerable, but also highlighted how strongly she felt about the godmother's vows she'd taken. While others had selfish reasons for their actions, she remained steadfast to the end.
Like in her Lydiard chronicles, St. John has created a completely believable scenario through which she moves her historical figures, staying true to the known facts, but cleverly presenting a happier alternative to the fates of the young princes. This is historical fiction at its best. I loved it!
Where to Purchase
This title is on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Link : Amazon AU: Amazon CA: Amazon UK: Amazon US
Meet the Author
Having spent a significant part of her life with her seventeenth-century family while writing The Lydiard Chronicles trilogy and Counterpoint series, Elizabeth St.John is now discovering new family stories with her fifteenth-century namesake Elysabeth St.John Scrope, and her half-sister, Margaret Beaufort.
Connect with Elizabeth:
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Thank you for hosting Elizabeth St.John today, and for your wonderful review. x
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