Friday Book Report: The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham

Susan Higginbotham dives deep into the Wars of the Roses in The Stolen Crown.  Full of intrigue, betrayal, secrets, and deception, Higginbotham brings to life the characters involved to create a compelling and fresh look at just what happened to the Princes in the Tower.  It was published in 2010 by Sourcebooks, Incorporated.

One day in 1464, six-year-old Katherine (Kate) Woodville sneaks out of her chambers late at night and finds that her older sister Elizabeth is in the midst of marrying King Edward IV.  That one night changes everything for Kate and for England as well.  At seven, Kate is married to eleven-year-old Henry (Harry) Stafford, the second Duke of Buckingham; and the two are able to form a friendship and a deep bond as they grow up together.  But politics can create strange bedfellows; and Harry and Kate find themselves in the middle of a battle for the throne that could destroy not just their beloved country, but their marriage as well. 

Told from the alternating point of view of Harry and Kate, this is a very fascinating story about that secret marriage and the catastrophe that follows in its wake.  I of course had heard about the Wars of the Roses and the Princes in the Tower, but was Americanly unfamiliar with all the history and events that happened during this particular time period.  The more I read historical fiction, the more fascinated I become regarding events that happened hundreds of years ago.  If a particular historical fiction novel interests me, I find that while reading the book I’m also doing a little research to learn more about the events and characters I’m reading about.  I did this for The Stolen Crown.  This book was wonderfully written, and it’s the perfect blend of historical fact and fiction.  

I really enjoyed reading the perspective of Harry and Kate during these tumultuous times, and I found that their characters were both believable and well-developed.  Reading about the two and their relationship from their youth and beyond was very interesting and provides a little romantic storyline to go along with all the betrayal and scandal developing around those two.  While this book is told during the secret marriage and the events that led up to the Princes in the Tower, this is essentially about Harry and Kate and their relationship.  Harry is the second Duke of Buckingham and he wants more power and control, and when Edward IV doesn’t relinquish he grows complacent and edgy.  Kate is a loyal subject to Edward IV and a loving sister to the Queen, and it’s interesting to see how Kate and Harry react toward each other when certain alliances can become treasonous.

Anyone that knows their history, or has an ability to go online to Wikipedia (or wherever) will know what the end result of this secret marriage will be.  I sort of knew what happens, but that didn’t deter me from wanting to finish this book.  This book is more about the relationship of Harry and Kate and their thoughts and reactions to the events surrounding them.  The Princes in the Tower and the Wars of the Roses just provides a backdrop setting to the story of their relationship.  Instead of just writing a historical fiction about this time period, Higginbotham gives the reader a fresh viewpoint of those events and the perspective of Kate and Harry, who aren’t really documented all that much in the history books.

This book is structured very well and the research involved writing this book is very apparent in the writing.  Historical fact was blended so well with fiction in this book and Higginbotham knew when to be fictitious and when to be factual and when each was essential to the telling of the story.  Higginbotham was descriptive when needed, but very blunt and to the point when description wasn’t necessary.  I loved that she was able to balance that out and it made this book all the better in my mind. 

My only real complaint is that I think there were way too many characters and it was hard to keep up with all of them.  All the characters having multiple names and titles just added to the confusion.  I felt like I needed a family tree next to me so I could remember who was who and what their relationship was to the main characters.  But, that isn’t really Higginbotham’s fault, and in fact she did provide a list of characters at the beginning of the book, but I read this book on my Nook, so going back and forth wasn’t really feasible for me.  There were just a lot of Lancaster’s and York’s and Duke’s and Duchesses and it was hard to keep track of all of them. 

I also felt that there were a lot of big events that didn’t get quite as much attention as I thought they should have, whereas some other little incidents seemed to get more notice than needed.  But, like I said previously, it wasn’t the events that really mattered in this book; it was the relationship between Harry and Kate that was the main focal point.  So, I can’t really complain too much, I just wanted to learn more about some of those happenings that weren’t described as much as I thought they should have been in this book.

Overall, a very well thought out, well researched book that any fan of historical fiction would enjoy.  I say it’s a romance, but it isn’t really, it’s about Harry and Kate, but it’s about their relationship more than it is about the romance in their life.  I give this book a solid B+ grade and am seriously contemplating picking up a few of her other novels because this one was so very well done.  If you enjoy historical fiction I strongly recommend this book to enhance your book collection.