London, 1499. Margaret Plantagenet, niece of kings and sister of the former heir to the English throne, lives quietly as “the wife of a humble knight”. Her brother has been beheaded by the new king, Henry VII, and the only way to survive is to forget her royal lineage. When her cousin’s son, Henry VIII, becomes king, Margaret is created Lady Salisbury. But as Katherine of Aragon delivers a succession of stillborn babies, rumours grow of a Plantagenet curse that Henry will not father a living heir. The real Margaret lived “a long life at the centre of events but which was largely ignored because it was a woman’s life”. Gregory has built a reputation as a historical novelist of the first rank, and this latest work has historical accuracy and vivid storytelling.
