Johane de Geneville is 
married at 15 to Roger Mortimer, later the first Earl of March, who is 14 but considers himself a man who is not allowed to govern his own lands and has to allow Piers Gaveston to do it for him until he becomes of age. His over ambition doesn't allow this for long however. This is his story up the ladder until he stands next to Queen Isabella with King Edward II abdicated and the Despensers dispensed of, but he can't outrun his fate forever. Lives were short in the 1400s for two reasons: illnesses and war.

Women were not allowed to participate in war, religion or politics, the three main topics of the time. They and their inheritance were seen as a man's property and their fate was either as a wife and mother, or as a nun in a convent (I know what I would have chosen even though Johane is scathing about the impoverished life in the habit). Today we decry arranged marriages, back then they were the norm, at least in aristocratic circles where the accumulation of and holding on to wealth and titles was more important than anything. Women had no role to play, no influence to exert but as wife of a traitor they were considered guilty too. Talk about injustice!

This is, as ever, meticulously researched but the historical political context and the backdrop of war left me cold. I was more interested in a woman's life back then in the Welsh Marches but I'm not sure I got enough of Johane to really grasp her. Everything she did or thought was because of a man's actions in a world where betrayal and treason seemed to be the norm. Johane bore 12 children to a man who she thought loved her and who betrayed her in the cruellest and most public way but it seemed she was more upset at the other woman, Queen Isabella. Her polite barbs were first class though. 

I would have liked to hear more about her 12 children but we never hear about the horror it must have been to go through labour twelve times. We hear a lot about her time in confinement with some of her daughters where she complains bitterly about the cold castle and the food rations. She might have been strong-willed but it didn't really help her in a world dominated by male power games. Kudos though for getting her family lands and titles restored to her after relentless petitioning. That was a big thing back then.

Also, I know there was plenty of story go get through but as we skipped a lot of years anyway, I would have wished for a tightening that got it under 400 pages. Still, I enjoyed reading about a woman history deemed not important enough and who comes to life here in a story full of betrayal, loss, and grief.