“Rich, absorbing and compassionate… Above all, Johnson’s book is about the power a woman like Margaret could have in medieval England, and her love for her child... Brilliantly tense.
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“Lauren Johnson does a good job of guiding the reader through these enormously confusing years, maintaining a close focus on Margaret while always trying to fit what is known of her life into the ever-shifting currents of a society at war with itself… [She] chart its twists and
turns in convincing detail… Johnson is good at weaving the stories of noble wives and widows into her narrative, showing how these women, often closely related, strove against the grain of their menfolk’s rampant fratricide to maintain their relationships. There is no doubting Margaret’s piety, intelligence, courage or persistence.
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