“The Kingmaker’s Daughter” - Philippa Gregory

(Tudors and Plantagenets book 4)

🏰 This novel covers roughly the same time period and most of the same major events as books 2 and 3. The story is picked up by the younger daughter of Warwick, Anne Neville. We already know that the Warwick girls experience more tumult in their fortunes than any of the other leading women during this time period.

🏰 This novel opens on the coronation of Elizabeth Woodville. You’ll recall from book 2, that Edward has chosen this relative nobody as his wife, over the protests of his mentor, Warwick, who had already arranged an alliance for him. Anne’s parents despise the new queen and her too-large Rivers clan as devious charlatans.

🏰 Up to now, Warwick has been a major player in all of the events up to and beyond Edward’s coronation as the first Yorkist king. Warwick’s protégé turns out to be less than malleable to his puppeteering, and thus, Warwick rushes out into battle again. And again. He features most prominently in Elizabeth Woodville’s account where she glosses over Isabelle and Anne as their father’s pawns; he schemes to arrange advantageous marriages for them. While Elizabeth takes little notice of the Warwick girls in her account, she occupies Anne’s account like a terrifying fantasm, lurking around every castle corner. 

🏰 Here, it’s interesting to see what Warwick’s original intentions were for his daughters. Isabelle isn’t really mentioned at all in Margaret Beaufort’s account - she’s essentially irrelevant to Marge as she can’t be a potential bride for Henry Tudor. We do see Anne arrive on the scene once Elizabeth Woodville has fled to sanctuary, and Anne arrives as the wife of Richard and Queen of England - a role her father had intended first for Isabelle, and later for Anne. Anne’s path is unsurprisingly full of twists an turns. First, Warwick abandons the Yorkists to support their former enemies, the Lancastrians and Margaret of Anjou of all people, and Anne is wed to her son (as an aside, the scene where Margaret of Anjou is faced with defeat and tries to course correct, is extremely well written!). Later, when Margaret of Anjou and Warwick united power grab fails, Anne finds herself a young widow, and somehow back in the Yorkist camp when she remarries. 

🏰 Anne and Isabelle Neville stand in sharp contrast to both Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort who both manage to maintain familial allegiance. Elizabeth vows to always support her York children and her Rivers clan, and she does so. Marge, as we know, is fixated on crowning her son king, and will switch allegiances as necessary. The Neville sisters have far less autonomy than either Elizabeth or Marge. They are moved about the country and traded as pawns by the Duke of Warwick, and later, by their husbands, George and Richard (the younger brothers of King Edward).

🏰 Though the younger sister, Anne seems more sensible than Isabelle. She has a more lucid view of palace real politik, unlike her sister, who seems wholly swallowed up by the most powerful men in her life. Isabelle realizes too late what a precarious position her trusted father ultimately placed her in, but she can only devolve into a life of paranoia.

🏰 As the previous books lay out the principle events, we know what transpires, but Anne Neville’s POV provides an inside look at the scheming Warwick clan. But it also serves to show the cost of the scheming on the lives of these girls. You’ll recall passing references to Warwick’s sudden flight, and Isabelle’s miscarriage onboard a ship when they are refused landing. This time, you’ll read the agony of this event as described by Anne. While the plot is familiar, Anne’s POV adds fresh dimension, and it was well worth reading.