The Stolen Crown - Susan Higginbotham

The Stolen Crown: The Secret Marriage that Forever Changed the Fate of England
By Susan Higginbotham

Let me just say that when you take the drama of the War of the Roses and the fascinating, easy story-telling of Susan Higginbotham, you can’t go wrong. I loved reading about the excitement that unfolded from the point-of-view of Harry Stafford, the person who betrayed a king but about whom little is actually known, as well as the perspective of his wife Kate Woodville who was the sister of the queen and to who history has not been the most kind.

I don’t know about you, but for me this is a very confusing time period. I’m not talking about keeping all the details straight (which, hello, is ridiculous to attempt during a cousin’s war) but oh my emotions, I couldn’t keep them in check. One chapter I am living this person and wanting them to succeed and the next chapter I am wishing them dead. I think the changing narrations between Kate and Harry also added to this effect and I loved it.

I also love the spunk that Higginbotham writes into her female characters when they are young. I think it makes them seem more real because I know if I was raised prim and proper (which of course I am) I would be doing absurd things whenever I could get away with it. Plus, it just makes the story that much more entertaining. It was quite amusing when I found young Harry to have similar qualities.

“I told Grandmother when she talked to me this morning that I thought you were too French,’ Harry said solemnly. ‘But she told me that I was being foolish, that when I was older I would be delighted with your French ways. She didn’t say why. Anyway, she told me that it was either you or the Earl of Warwick’s girls…she thought that I would enjoy marriage to you more. And she said that you would probably be a better bearer of children for me…So I said that I guessed that you would do, and Grandmother said that I was shaping up to be a man of sense after all.”

Please Harry, don’t hold back. The dialogue throughout the story is entertaining and it builds such fantastic chemistry between the characters. I know that there are many versions to every story but I like to believe it happened the way that Higginbotham tells it…full of drama and passion and betrayal and redemption.

If you want to check out this book (you know you do) I am giving away a signed copy.  Check out my post from last week to enter.


**Source: This book was purchased with my own sweet loot.