Book Review: The Queen of Last Hopes

Title: The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret Anjou
Author: Susan Higginbotham
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published Date: January 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4022-4281-6
Pages: 334

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review.


Synopsis:
Margaret of Anjou, queen of England, cannot give up on her husband-even when he slips into insanity. And as mother to the House of Lancaster's last hope, she cannot gice up on her son-even when England turns against them. This gripping tale of a queen forced to stand strong in the face of overwhelming odds is at its heart a tender tale of love. Award-winning author Susan Higginbotham will once again ask readers to question everything they know about right and wrong, compassion and hope, dut to one's country and the desire of one's own heart.

About the Author:
Susan Higginbotham is the author of three historical fiction novels. The Traitor's Wife,her first novel, is the winner of ForeWordMagazine's 2005 Silver Award for historical fiction and is a 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medalist in Historical/Military Fiction. Higginbotham has worked as an editor and an attorney, and lives in North Carolina with her family. For more information, please visit her website at http://www.susanhigginbotham.com and her blog, http://susandhigginbotham.blogspot.com


My review:
Susan Higginbotham is a master at historical fiction and this book reaffirms that. I had read a previous book by her a few months ago and I can't wait to read more from her. The Queen of Last Hopesis full of intrique among the House of Lancaster during the time of the War of the Roses and it gave new light into that period for me. I am currently taking a class where we are studying this time period and I am able to get an all around picture at the true history and what Higginbotham has included in her book around those characters. The research that the author has done is meticulous and while although fictional aspects are mixed in, the reader is getting the true story. Her dialogue adds color to the history and brings the characters to life like no other. I imagined myself in the story, taking part, instead of merely a reading bystander.
You must read this book!