The Holiest Harlot

Set in the Wars of the Roses, this is a novel about Lady Eleanor Talbot, whose love affair with King Edward the Fourth of England brought down a dynasty. The story begins with her early widowhood and subsequent meeting with the charismatic young king, a man only too ready to exploit her vulnerability. The death of their child and Edward's inconstancy prompt her to seek refuge with her sister Elizabeth, the Duchess of Norfolk. Theirs is a stormy relationship. Yet it is the merry, irresponsible Elizabeth who ensures that Eleanor's last wishes are unexpectedly fulfilled.

Among the minor characters there are fine pictures of William Catesby, an elusive historical figure seldom brought so sympathetically to life, and a fictional young thug calling himself Fulk of Ayssbury. The latter is a Yorkist archer with an agenda of his own. Equally telling is the account of King Richard the Third, who used Lady Eleanor's love affair to seize the English throne. Many other members of medieval society appear, from gypsies to royal dukes, from bizarrely indigent priests to mighty bishops. Most memorable of all is another fictional character, an old retainer of the House of Talbot, in whose eyes no one of that name could conceivably be accused of doing anything even remotely wrong. It is in his admiring voice that Lady Eleanor's story is told.