Anne O’Brien tells the story of Margery Paston, a member of the famous Norfolk letter-writing family, and the scandal she caused when she fell in love with their bailiff, a man from a family who sold mustard and candles. It’s the background to her new novel, A Marriage of Fortune. Clement Paston, who died in […]
To have and to hold: pawns in the medieval marriage game
Anne O’Brien’s novels imagine the lives of medieval women, almost silent in the records of their times, but important pieces in the games of diplomacy, dynasty and war. She tells Historia about the royal women who married for duty – and those who defied their families to enter a risky love match. Women from royal […]
Discovering Elizabeth Mortimer
Anne O’Brien brings us a tale of ambition, treachery and betrayal in the reign of King Henry IV. Elizabeth Mortimer was one of the powerful medieval Mortimer family that dominated the Welsh Marches where I now live. It is difficult to ignore them round here if you have an interest in medieval history. I am surrounded […]