The Lady of the Rivers

The Lady of the Rivers is a 2011

On their wedding night, however, the Duke explains that he wishes to keep her a virgin so that she may use the powers of her family in their purest form in his alchemical experiments seeking the ability to turn iron into gold. He later dies and leaves Jacquetta a wealthy widow at 20. She and the Duke's handsome squire Richard Woodville realize that they have fallen in love and become lovers. Returning to England, they marry in secret before the king can remarry her to someone else. Exiled from court in disgrace, Jacquetta and Richard soon have their first child, Elizabeth.

Once Jacquetta and Richard are forgiven and allowed back to court, the pair become close companions of the young king Henry VI and his new French bride Margaret of Anjou, a kinswoman of Jacquetta's. Soon after their marriage, however, the royal couple become increasingly unpopular and there are several uprisings. They rely heavily on the advice of favourites and lavish wealth and titles on them, including Richard and Jacquetta. Margaret becomes frustrated with her husband and when she eventually becomes pregnant, it is strongly implied that the baby has actually been fathered by Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. After the King slips into a coma, Jacquetta is a constant companion to the pregnant Queen and remains by her side for the next few years. When the King eventually awakens, the country is plunged into civil war between Lancaster and York led by Richard of York.

Margaret becomes Queen Militant and raises armies to fight in her husband's name, including an army of Scots to fight the Yorkists, which makes her even more unpopular with the people. A defeated Margaret is forced to flee to France, and Jacquetta returns to Grafton manor. A widowed Elizabeth also returns with her children, and petitions the new King Edward IV for the return of her lands. Jacquetta looks from the window of her house to see Elizabeth walking up with Edward, finishing where The White Queen begins.

Critical reception

Publishers Weekly wrote of the novel, "Gregory portrays spirited women at odds with powerful men, endowing distant historical events with drama, and figures long dead or invented with real-life flaws and grand emotions." The review adds that the author "makes history (mostly accurate) come alive for readers (mostly women) by giving credence to persistent rumors that academic historians (mostly men) have brushed aside."^[1]