blood sisters the women behind the wars of the roses

In a captivating, multigenerational narrative, Gristwood traces the rise and rule of the seven most critical women in the wars: from Marguerite of Anjou, wife of the Lancastrian Henry VI, who steered the kingdom in her insane husband's stead to Cecily Neville, matriarch of the rival Yorkist clan, whose son Edward IV murdered his own brother to maintain power to Margaret Beaufort, who gave up her own claim to the throne in favor of her son, a man who would become the first of a new line of Tudor kings. These mothers, wives, and daughters were locked in a web of loyalty and betrayal that would ultimately change the course of English history. Stay away.To contemporaries, the Wars of the Roses were known collectively as a 'cousins' war.' The series of dynastic conflicts that tore apart the ruling Plantagenet family in fifteenth-century England was truly a domestic drama, as fraught and intimate as any family feud before or since.Īs acclaimed historian Sarah Gristwood reveals in Blood Sisters, while the events of this turbulent time are usually described in terms of the male leads who fought and died seeking the throne, a handful of powerful women would prove just as decisive as their kinfolks' clashing armies. RTE's reviewer described it as 'A fat, juicy, escapist read' which 'captures the intoxicating beauty of Kenya and the danger that pulls all three girls back', while a reviewer in the South African Independent Online said 'Sentimental nonsense. It is the first volume of the Langani Trilogy, followed by A Durable Fire (2007, ISBN 978-0099501695) and In Borrowed Light (2011, ISBN 978-0099520634). The novel has been translated to multiple languages that include German, Turkish, and Italian. Read more Print length 433 pages Language English Publication date MaDimensions 5.5 x 1.09 x 8.

This was followed by an ebook publication in 2006 through Vintage. A richly drawn, absorbing epic, Blood Sisters reveals how women helped to end the Wars of the Roses, paving the way for the Tudor age - and the creation of modern England. The book follows their journey from being brought up in Kenya, until their lives diverge and their hopes and dreams are destroyed, and their bond almost with it.īlood Sisters was first published in paperback format in the United Kingdom on 6 October 2005 through Harvill Press.

The novel concerns the life stories of three girls: the Irish Sarah Mackay, an Afrikaner Hanna Van der Beer and British Camilla Broughton Smith. The book follows the lives of three girls through their early lives in Kenya to their later lives, each of which go into different directions.

Blood Sisters is a 2005 book by Barbara and Stephanie Keating.

Blood sisters the women behind the wars of the roses