Virgin Widow: England's Forgotten Queen - Softcover

Anne O'Brien

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0778303756 ISBN 13: 9780778303756

Publisher: Mira/ Mills & Boon, 2010

Synopsis

This title is about England's forgotten Queen. England, 1469. A daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, Anne Neville cannot dictate her own future. Her marriage will be political, made purely to advance her family's interests. But at the age of fourteen, her father's treason forces her into exile, and into an uneasy betrothal with Edward of Lancaster. Edward is changeable and completely controlled by his powerful mother, Margaret of Anjou. In a hostile, impoverished court, Anne finds herself at the mercy of other's whims. On her wedding night, the audience assembled to witness her bedding instead witnesses a royal humiliation. At the point of consummation, Queen Margaret forbids the act. Anne went to her husband's bed a virgin, and she will remain so. The battle for the crown of England rages, and Anne's husband must fight for his cause. But he is foully done to death by Richard, Duke of Gloucester - a man who twice before has been betrothed to Anne. Anne must decide where her loyalties lie. And during the reign of King Edward, the wrong decision could mean death.

About this title

About the Author

Anne O’Brien taught history in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, before deciding to fulfill an ambition to write historical fiction. She is the author of many historical novels, including The Virgin Widow, Queen Defiant, and The King’s Concubine. She lives in an eighteenth-century timbered cottage with her husband in the Welsh Marches in Herefordshire, a wild, remote area that provides much inspiration for the medieval settings of her works.

From Booklist

Written more for romantic historians than history buffs, this novel focuses on the life of Anne Neville, daughter of the powerful and revolutionary Earl of Warwick, as she lives through the War of the Roses. Anne grows up as any noble daughter would in the late-fifteenth century: studying, sewing, and learning how to carefully negotiate political and personal alliances. As an adolescent, she begins a fiery and undying romance with Richard of Gloucester, brother to the king, who is being trained at her family’s castle. Her father grows increasingly intolerant of the king’s less than palatable political decisions and plots a rebellion that leads the king to banish her entire family from England—effectively destroying any hope she had of marrying Richard. As Anne and her family flee, she must leave her romance with Richard to fate as she struggles for survival and as her father begins to plot his return to England. While slightly anachronistic in tone, this novel is an engaging romance with well-developed and fetching characters. An enjoyable, heart-wrenching read. --Julie Hunt

Edition details

• Publisher: Mira/ Mills & Boon
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0778303756
• ISBN 13: 9780778303756
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 624