The Stone Rose (The She-Wolves Trilogy)
Carol McGrath has set herself a mission: to rescue significant women from the shadows of history. The Stone Rose, novelising the life of Isabella of France, queen to Edward II, follows on from The Silken Rose (Ailenor of Provence, queen to Henry III) and The Damask Rose (Eleanor of Castile, queen to Edward I). However, Isabella’s problem is not that she has been forgotten by history but that she is notorious. We usually remember her as an avaricious, adulterous queen who engineered her husband’s overthrow and murder at the hands of her lover, Roger Mortimer, and ruled as regent during the minority of her young son, Edward III. When Edward came of age, he had Mortimer seized and executed. The only thing which fits uneasily with this narrative is that Isabella kept her lands and possessions and enjoyed an honoured place at her son’s court for the rest of her life,
McGrath sets out to rehabilitate Isabella, emphasising that prior to the Mortimer episode she had been a dutiful and patient wife and mother. She spends 300 pages being dutiful and patient, leaving the exciting part to the last 95 pages. Sadly we find villainesses more interesting than dutiful and patient wives.
The author also excuses Mortimer from the murder of Edward II, preferring an alternative theory. There are problems with both versions, but it may not be Edward II who is buried in Gloucester cathedral.
McGrath is expert at describing the splendour of a mediaeval court, especially the clothes, the furnishings, and the food. The research is impressive. The Stone Rose may well be closer to the truth than the conventional history.