Rivers Run Through It

See what happens when I get a bit determined?  A 497 page book read in nine days flat.  Result!

I've just finished reading 'The Lady of the Rivers', chronologically the first in Philippa Gregory's 'Cousins at War' series.  I was getting a bit washed out by the flood of promotion around the BBC series based on the books, so thought I'd better get started on the novels so I could watch it!

'The Lady of the Rivers'
by Philppa Gregory
(Simon & Schuster UK, 2012) 

The lady of the title is Jacquetta, a daughter of the House of Luxembourg, a family which traces its source to a union between a man and the water sprite Melusina.  These unusual origins are said to give the Luxembourg women the gift of foresight, bringing Jacquetta to the attention of the Duke of Bedford, King Henry VI of England's commander in France.  Bedford marries Jacquetta to use her in his alchemical experiments and no more, leaving her feeling unhappy and confused.  The waters are muddied further when she begins to have feelings for one of the Duke's retinue, Richard Woodville.  When the tide of war turns and the Duke and his household return to England, they find a king whose direction changes with his advisor and an increasingly disgruntled ruling class.  Will Bedford convince the King to fund the fight in France? Can Jacquetta find love and retain her honour? Could disagreement between royal cousins really lead to war?

You have no idea how hard it was for me not to say more in that paragraph.  This is really only the very start of a book which took me on an unexpected journey through the early years of the Wars of the Roses, as we call them today.  All I really know about them is that Henry VII brought them to an end through battle and marriage.  As such, even though this is clearly historical fiction, 'The Lady of the Rivers' gave me a taste of the era and an overview of the key events that has made me want to read more.  This is just as well as there are another three books in the series already and at least one more on the way.

Which leads me onto a bit of a niggle I have.  As readers can see from the family tree at the front of the paperback edition, Jacquetta is rather 'productive', giving birth to 14 children by the end of the novel.  Somehow she carries these babies successfully while riding horses, getting caught up with the boisterous London mob and stressing about her husband, children and Queen.  Clearly, she was made of stern stuff!

As I say, though, this really was just a drop in the ocean, much like the alchemy near the start of the book.  There was a point at which I thought "Where on Earth is this going?" because I was a bit worried that the themes of magic and alchemy were going to drain the book's feel of realism.  Talk to any Philippa Gregory fan and they'll tell you that they love the way she evokes the past and makes it feel realistic, so it worried me a bit that the novel might be slipping into 'Lord of the Rings' territory!

I needn't have worried on either count, though, as 'The Lady of the Rivers' is an absorbing book introducing fascinating historical figures and a time period I really would like to know more about.  Not only am I hoping that the other books in the series will help to start bridging the gap in my knowledge, I hope that the people they introduce will be equally intriguing and I'll get so swept up in the flow of the story that I'll read them just as quickly!

Now, to 'The White Queen'!