England in the 1450s: Queen Margaret knows she must protect the crown — and her son, Prince Edward’s, claim to it — at all costs. With her husband, King Henry, increasingly frail, it is up to Margaret to fight for their inheritance.
And as the Wars of the Roses rage on, her enemies and their wives lurk close, threatening to unravel everything she is trying to protect.
Anne, Countess of Warwick, has long striven to be a loyal and accomplished wife to the Earl of Warwick.
But when she develops an unlikely alliance with the Lancastrian Queen Margaret, her husband’s adversary, she wonders how much power now lies in her hands to determine the course of history.
Crossing enemy lines, the pair strike up a thorny friendship — yet in the midst of treachery and the turmoil of battle, can the two women trust each other?
Or is it only a matter of time before war drives a sword between them?
The Queen and the Countess by Anne O’Brien is published on 27 February, 2025.
You may enjoy Anne’s Historia feature To have and to hold: pawns in the medieval marriage game.
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