The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
synopsis (Goodreads)
Spies, poison, and curses surround her…
Is there anyone she can trust?
The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the gripping story of the daughters of the man known as the “Kingmaker,” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. In this novel, her first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory explores the lives of two fascinating young women.
At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family and will cost the lives of those she loves most in the world, including her precious only son, Prince Edward. Ultimately, the kingmaker’s daughter will achieve her father’s greatest ambition.
My review
This is a book I would recommend to pretty much anyone. the story is fascinating full of back stabbers and greedy people. Everyone in this book has an end game; it is disappointing that Anne’s end game is pleasing her father, the man who only sees his two daughters as pawns in his game to control the crown. They call her father the kingmaker, it becomes clear that Richard Neville is not really interested in the rightful heir to the throne but simply wants a king he can control. I didn’t like this guy from the start. And what is it with the names, every man in this book is either named Richard, or Edward, or George. It is almost too confusing.
Anne had to go through a lot until she eventually became queen. I just did not like her as a main character. She is the very reason why my rating is a four instead of five. I don’t feel like she developed that much as a character. She only went from fearing her mother to fearing Queen Elizabeth. She still has the same views she had as a child; she wants to secure a good marriage in order to please her father. It feels as though she only wants to be associated with greatness that is her only goal. And I had to endure her blabbing about it the entire novel; it is all about her fear of the queen or her mother, to her trying to impress her father, her on and off enmity with her sister, her love for Richard and their son. I think that pretty much covers Anne in this novel.
Other than that everything else in the novel was interesting. Even though I had to read through Isabel’s childbirth scene with the most bizarre look on my face…that was just horrible. There is so much plotting in this book, even after Richard Neville dies, George just picks up from where he left off. Even though most of the time we are not aware of what takes place on Elizabeth’s side it is also evident that her family is always up to something as they try to make themselves the richest and most influential family in England.
It did take me a while to finish this book as I was busy and did not have much time for reading. However, every time I picked it up I got sucked into this story wanting to know what happens next.
I think for historical fiction lovers, this is a must read.
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