I've had some expectations about this book - the story was too good to screw up and the autor had written dozens of books before this one.Somehow I knew it was too good to be true.The story is good but the writing.... It is so incerdibly simple, with such a small wocabulary, that it read like one of those tiny books we read in school in English classes, where they take a giant novel like "The Count of Monte Cristo" and compress it to 30 pages.The author suffers, among many other things, from the "tell, not show" syndrom, so sometimes it reads like an encyclopedia entry.One thing made me laugh - talking about childish writing, the are a lot of sentenses like "____ was his friend. He liked ____" or "____ was her enemy. She didn't trust ____".The only thing that came to my mind reading that is Lister reading a book for cats: "See Dick run. Run, Dick, run. Run home,Dick".Perhaps I am the wrong demographic and it is a book for kids but the main reason I would not recommend this for anyone above 10 years old is the complete inabillity of the author to write characters: everything is definitive, everything is black-or-white - those we like, they're are friends, those we hate, they're our enemies. And the title character, Margaret d'Anjou is so very useless, it's a shame to waste words, but I think I shall - I've watched a BBC production of "Henry VI" (I'm currently reading the play itself) with Margaret in it and though I've found her insufferable and vile, she is still more of a character, more of a woman than Plaidy's pathetic attemp at writing a human being.Another one for the "unfinished" pile.
Margaret of Anjou was a headstrong woman - one that was placed with a weak husband. Had Henry V been of stronger stamina, she might never have risen to the level of hate that England placed around her. She tore the country apart with her favorites, and through the conflict that arose, we got the War of the Roses.Through her life she was determined to make the best of her situation, and through her folly she managed to almost destroy the country. She was ruthless in her ideals and was determined to keep her throne no matter the cost. Jean Plaidy has done a masterful job of weaving the story together, giving you a sympathetic view into the life of Margaret. She rose from nothing to attain a great height, only to lose it all again.
