Red Rose of Anjou — Jean Plaidy

A WOMAN'S AMBITION WAS FULFILLED THROUGH MEN--BUT MEN HAD AMBITIONS OF THEIR OWN.

Margaret of Anjou came to England and married King Henry VI. Born to a family of strong women, Margaret was no exception. She was passionate, impulsive, loving, violent, and more enamored of the crown than of her peace-loving husband.

Henry was king, but the Earl of Warwick--known as the Kingmaker--supported Richard of York. In a fateful scene in the Temple Gardens, as men were called to pluck a rose to show on which side they stood, Richard and Henry were on opposing sides. It was a prelude to the War of the Roses.

In this turbulent period amid the fortunes of war, men who loved power took center stage, and Henry, poor ineffectual Henry, wished only to be left alone with his books and his music. Yet his wife, Margaret, schemed for his power and later for his son's, and rushed headlong into disaster....