Blood and Roses by Catherine Hokin Blog Tour
Blurb
Blood and Roses tells the story of Margaret of Anjou (1430-82), wife of Henry VI and a key protagonist in the Wars of the Roses. This is a feminist revision of a woman frequently imagined only as the shadowy figure demonised by Shakespeare - Blood and Roses examines Margaret as a Queen unable to wield the power and authority she is capable of, as a wife trapped in marriage to a man born to be a saint and as a mother whose son meets a terrible fate she has set in motion. It is the story of a woman caught up in the pursuit of power, playing a game ultimately no one can control...
Review
This is the author's debut historical novel based mainly on the life of Margaret of Anjou, who was brought over from France to marry Henry VI.
Margaret was around 14 years old when it was decided she was to come to England to marry Henry VI Henry was a devoutly religious man, who had no interest in marrying but everyone around him kept telling him he needed to produce an heir. Henry was more interested in praying from dawn to dusk.
This book covers the period of the War of the Roses in around 1400s. I must admit, I do love a bit of history, but this was even further back than I remembered at school!
Margaret marries Henry and you read about how she tries desperately for Henry to lover her and given her position, trying to produce an heir. Henry was having none of it and basically told Margaret that if an heir was to be conceived, she would have to pray for a miracle!
This leads to Margaret having to do desperate measures in order to get pregnant and i;m sure you can guess what happens!
This is a book not only about history, but about the relationship between a mother and her son and the trials they had to endure to basically stay alive.
If you love a bit of history then this is a great book for you. I did find there were a lot of characters to deal with, buth other than that a real insight into how you had to watch your back and be strong to hold on to power in England during the 1400s!!
About the Author
Catherine is a Glasgow-based author
with a degree in History from Manchester University. After years of
talking about it, she finally started writing seriously about 3 years ago,
researching and writing her debut novel, Blood and Roses, which will be published in January 2016 by Yolk
Publishing.
The novel tells the story of Margaret of Anjou and her
pivotal role in the Wars of the Roses, exploring the relationship between
Margaret and her son and her part in shaping the course of the bloody political
rivalry of the fifteenth century.
About a year ago, Catherine also started
writing short stories - she was recently 3rd prize winner
in the 2015 West Sussex Writers Short Story
Competition and a finalist in the Scottish Arts Club 2015
Short Story Competition.
She regularly
blogs as Heroine Chic, casting a historical, and often hysterical, eye over women
in history, popular culture and life in general.
Social media links:
Twitter @cathokin
Thank you to Catherine Hokin and Yolk Publishing for letter me read and review this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment