This is Ms. Gregory's next installment in her Cousin's War series after Lady of the Rivers. In this novel she takes on the time period after Edward IV is on the throne with his wife, Elizabeth Woodville (Lady Rivers). The Earl of Warwick (Richard Neville) is the man who put him on that throne and is therefore known to history as "The Kingmaker." But it is the Queen's family that is seeing all the benefit from Edward's elevation; Edward had married her in secret, without the Earl's advice and now Neville is feeling quite put out. He plots to dethrone Edward and put his brother, George, Duke of Clarence on the throne. So Neville marries his daughter Isabel to George and finds himself at war with Edward.

Need I say that there is no period in history more confusing than this?

What follows is a fascinating look into the minds of the two daughters of Richard Neville - Isabel the older and Anne the younger. Anne would have a slightly heavier cast in history as she ended up as Queen whereas Isabel was only a duchess. Either way their father used them for his own ends until he was killed in battle and that is where Ms. Gregory sets the lives of the girls into their own hands with this novel. She takes what she could find in the historical record and spins a tale of two sisters growing up in fear of one woman - Elizabeth, Queen consort of England. She was rumored to be a witch and as this tale goes forward both girls are deathly afraid of that rumor. Anything that goes wrong in their lives they attribute to the power of the queen.

This leads to a really good read. If it had not been canning season I would have read it in one sitting but the vegetables took precedence. The back half was slightly better than the beginning as Richard of Gloucester played more of a role. Ms. Gregory did not have him as Shakespeare did and he is a fine romantic hero in this book - to a point. The historical details take to into the time period and keep you captivated in the tale. My only complaint is that the book is written from Anne's point of view and it starts when she is about 8 years old and the voice remains young throughout. She does not seem to age until the very end when her son dies. I don't think I'm giving any spoilers here, history is history.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book as it was like a bird's eye view into the period with characters often left on the sidelines of history. Oh, and the cover is STUNNING.