Rebellion
Livi Michael returns to her Wars of the Roses saga, begun in Succession (HNR 71). It is the summer of 1462. Edward, Earl of March, has seized the throne and rules as Edward IV. Margaret of Anjou, queen to the gentle and confused Henry VI, has fled to France with her son, Prince Edward, where she attempts to win support to regain her husband’s throne. Meanwhile, Margaret Beaufort, married to Henry Stafford, longs for her son, Henry Tudor, who lives under the wardship of the Yorkist Herbert family.
Rebellion follows the tumultuous events of the next nine years, reaching a climax at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 and its immediate aftermath. As in Succession, the story is told from many viewpoints, chief among which, are those of the two formidable Margarets of the House of Lancaster. The chorus of voices – in third and first person, sometimes omniscient, sometimes the great players such as Elizabeth Woodville and the Earl of Warwick, sometimes the rank and file of soldiery – are deftly interwoven with contemporary chronicles and letters. Events unfold with pace and immediacy. It is a tale without heroes and villains, though dark deeds are done as fortunes rise and fall and rise again.
The reader feels deeply for both Margaret of Anjou and Margaret Beaufort, who are strong-willed women, determined that right should be done – whether in the regaining of an usurped throne, or the need for a mother to be with her son, by whatever means she can. Margaret Beaufort’s is the last voice we hear. I sensed a steeling of her ambition and resolve on the final pages. Although her son is in exile again, her fortunes are at low ebb, and her life is once more marred by tragedy, she will not bow down. Highly recommended.
