title: The Traitor's Wife: Betrayal & Murder in the Court of Edward II
author: Susan Higginbotham
genre: historical fiction
pages: 490
published: 2009
first line: Prince Edward and Piers Gaveston had slept together and too late, neither of which was at all unusual.
rated: 4 out of 5
Taking place in fourteenth-century England, The Traitor's Wife tells the story of Eleanor de Clare neice of of Prince Edward. Eleanor marries Hugh le Despenser and the two are happy together. As you can see from the first line in the book (see above), there's a little 'something something' going on between Prince Edward and Piers Gaveston.
Everyone who knows the two men suspects something is going on between the two, and the King sends Piers Gaveston into exile.
Each man eventually finds a lady to marry, as is expected of them, yet they continue their love affair with each other. Edward marries young Isabella, more out of duty than anything else. He still continues his love affair with Gaveston. Eleanor becomes a lady in waiting for the spoiled Isabella.
As the story goes on, there is a scandal with Eleanor's husband and Eleanor finds herself imprisoned. Hugh is sentenced to death, which you can read about in detail here. Eleanor eventually remarries.
I found this to be a great read. I love a good historical and this book delivered, there was treason, scandal and murder. The plot was interesting and the characters well written. You can see that Susan Higginbotham did extensive research for this book. This was my first time reading a novel based on Edward II and Eleanor de Clare, and i'm glad I got a chance to.
Special thanks to Paul Samuelson at http://www.sourcebooks.com/ for sending me a copy of this book.
