Red Rose of Anjou

by Jean Plaidy

Book Overview

When Henry VI becomes king, it is soon clear that he would be better suited to a quiet life than to ruling the country. Richard, Duke of York, is convinced that he would make a better king and has... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039912795X
• ISBN13: 9780399127953
• Release Date: June 1983
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Not the only red to be seen

This is the story about Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI and the War of the Roses. After the death of Henry V, the child Henry VI came to the throne and never really truly ruled. He was controlled by his uncles and the grown-ups of court and once he was old enough to rule married and his wife, Margaret ran the show. Plaidy makes you feel sorry for him in a huge way. You feel he would have been better of in a monastary or wished that his mother had him elsewhere. But alas you can't change the past. Margaret of Anjou is a headstrong woman from a branch of the French royal family with a lot of bad luck and it sticks to her like glue. The English liked her, but ended up loathing her. The epithet She-wolf of France originally referred to her, not Isabella of France. She was headstrong, stubborn and too arrogant for the English people. She could also care less about what they wanted. Jean Plaidy almost makes you hate her too if you didn't know all of what she went through. She felt she was doing her duty as Queen of England. This book also tells the beginning story of Edward of York, soon to be Edward IV of England; Richard Neville, The Kingmaker; Edward, Prince of Wales; Richard of Gloucester(Richard III) and Anne Neville(Anne of York). They are not to be glossed over in this book so you'll have to pay attention. This book was great because I didn't know much of anything about the War of the Roses beginning or Margaret of Anjou. Plaidy gives you a good intro into this very important piece of English history in a fun and interesting way.

Always Enjoyable Plaidy

A very readable tale. I enjoyed the book immensely. Plaidy takes an unsympathetic woman much hated in her life-time who left behind few good works and was responsible for a great deal of horror and grief -- a woman nicknamed the Bitch of Anjou by Warwick the Kingmake-- and makes her sympathetic without distorting the history. An amazing feat. Plaidy knows how to tell a story.