Comments on: Daughter of York, Anne Easter Smith

By: Isalys Blackwell

Isalys Blackwell — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:02:57 +0000

I read this book in early 2008 as well so my comment is quite overdue, but I was very curious as to your opinion of it anyway. This book introduced me to Anne Easter Smith’s work and I’ve been a fan ever since. Unlike others, like Phillipa Gregory who in my opinion simply like to tell a story, I find that A.E.S. strives for historical accuracy above all else, particularly in terms of the politics of the day.

I agree with you entirely when you say that king’s are hard enough to trace through the middle ages. Women are even harder so I appreciate the fact that she tries to illuminate the lives of these most interesting women. Their stories deserve to be told too!

I have not yet had any formal studies on the Plantagenet or Lancaster houses, so it’s been with the help of her books that I’ve learned as much as I have.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:36:19 +0000

Oh, thank you so much for letting me know! My research has been centered on early Richard III and the North so far. I’ll add your biography to the list of books that I should look out for.

I personally didn’t find it implausible that he would stray one time and proceed to regret it for the rest of his life (as happens in the book), but I’ll wait until your biography sets me straight to firm my opinion there. =)

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:12:29 +0000

Re: Daughter of York review …
It would appear to be a fact that Anthony Woodville (and again his name is wrongly spelled!) never strayed from his marriage vows, he waited eight years between the death of his first wife before marrying again – thus speaks Antony’s biographer, (me) who has spent goodness knows how long researching this man and who is currently working on his biography. The amount of books who get his information wrong is incalculable, wrong dates, places, confusions with his father, wrong spelling of his name (that’s universal, not one person thought to check that out) wrongly allocated his title, you name it they get it wrong. And they still do …