The Silver Bride
In 1483 England, Sir Miles Rushden, adviser and loyal friend to Henry, Duke of Buckingham, is kidnapped by Heloise Ballaster’s greedy, merchant father and forced, literally at sword point, to marry his silver-haired daughter. In doing this, Heloise’s father hopes to kill two birds with one stone: raise himself and his family socially and, at the same time, rid himself of a daughter whose unusual silver colored hair is rumored to be a sign of the “fairy” people. Miles, bitter at the way he’s been manipulated by Heloise’s father, is determined to have his marriage annulled in spite of the fact that he finds himself more enamored by his silver-haired bride with every passing day. Then the fickle and unstable Buckingham, to whom Miles is fiercely loyal, begins fomenting rebellion against Richard III and the House of York, with whom Heloise’s sympathies lie.
I found Buckingham’s historic rebellion to be a fascinating and sadly neglected setting among historical fiction authors. On the other hand, Miles’s and Heloise’s romance was more than a little predictable. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed Martyn’s depiction of Buckingham and his young son. Considering all the above and this author’s excellent research of the historical time period, I found it well worth the read overall.
