THE WOMEN OF THE COUSINS' WAR: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother.

New York:: Simon & Schuster,, (2011.). Hardcover -. Fine in fine dust jacket.. 2nd printing. From the dj: "Gregory teams with two eminent historians to explore the historical characters in the real-life world behind her Wars of the Roses novels. [they] describe the extraordinary lives of the heroines of her Cousins' War books: Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford; Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV; and Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. In her essay on Jacquetta, Philippa Gregory uses original documents, archaeology, and histories of myth and witchcraft to create the first-ever biography of the young duchess who survived two reigns and two wars to become the first lady at two rival courts. David Baldwin, established authority on the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the first commoner to marry a king of England for love; and Michael Jones, fellow of the Royal Historical Society, writes of Margaret Beaufort, the almost-unknown matriarch of the House of Tudor. In the introduction, Gregory writes revealingly about the differences between history and historical fiction. How much of a role does speculation play in writing each? How much fiction and how much fact should there be in a historical novel? How are female historians changing our view of women in history? " Maps,. Illustrated, Notes and sources, bibliography, index. 342 pp.