Blood and Roses - by Helen Castor (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"A gripping family saga. . . . Page-turners are rarely written by scholars of the 15th century, but Castor wears her learning admirably lightly. Blood and Roses is nothing less than a ripping yarn." --The Indepedent (London)

The Wars of the Roses tore England asunder. Over the course of thirty years, four kings lost their thrones, countless men lost their lives on the battlefield or their heads on the block, and others found themselves suddenly flush with gold. Yet until now, little has been written about the ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary time.

Blood and Roses is a gripping, intimate story of one determined family conducting everyday business against the backdrop of a disintegrating society and savage civil war. Drawing on a rare trove of letters discovered in a tumbledown stately home, historian Helen Castor reconstructs the turbulent affairs of the Pastons through three generations of births, marriages, and deaths as they single-mindedly worked their way up from farmers to landed gentry. It is a remarkable chronicle of devotion, ambition, and survival that brings a remote and hazy era to vibrant new life.

From the Back Cover

The Wars of the Roses tore England asunder. Over the course of thirty years, four kings lost their thrones, countless men lost their lives on the battlefield or their heads on the block, and others found themselves suddenly flush with gold. Yet until now, little has been written about the ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary time.

Blood and Roses is a gripping, intimate story of one determined family conducting everyday business against the backdrop of a disintegrating society and savage civil war. Drawing on a rare trove of letters discovered in a tumbledown stately home, historian Helen Castor reconstructs the turbulent affairs of the Pastons through three generations of births, marriages, and deaths as they single-mindedly worked their way up from farmers to landed gentry. It is a remarkable chronicle of devotion, ambition, and survival that brings a remote and hazy era to vibrant new life.

Review Quotes

"Dynamic... Persuasive... The tensions and affections binding the family shine across the centuries." -- Boston Globe

"Castor has brought the Paston family to life in an accessible and fluid narrative." -- Library Journal

"A gripping family saga ... Helen Castor uses her formidable knowledge of 15th-century local politics, and a rich variety of sources, to illuminate their background, and to bring wives, daughters, sons and lovers vividly to life. She skilfully allows the story to unfold without warning of coming events, so the family's dramatic ups and downs become thrilling soap-opera. ... Page-turners are rarely written by scholars of the 15th century, but Castor wears her learning admirably lightly. Blood & Roses is nothing less than a ripping yarn." -- Independent

"A master of every weapon in the modern historian's arsenal... Castor has made the whole century live again ." -- New York Times Book Review

"Beautifully paced and splendidly retold, Castor's tale. . . is popular history at its best." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Remarkable...Castor has put the letters to magnificent use here, combining scholarship with humor and clarity in a marvelously readable book." -- Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times (London)