The Red Queen is the second book in the Cousins War series (the first book being The White Queen about Elizabeth Woodville wife of King Edward IV) which is set in medieval England during the War of the Roses. I’ve always found this part of British history confusing since there are so many people with the same names (too many Richards and Henrys and Edwards and the crown goes back and forth between them like a football) so reading about them this way, as characters in a novel helps as it gives them distict personalities. The main character is Lady Margaret Beaumont, a Lancastrian descended from Edward III, whom we see grow up from a young girl convinced of her holiness, wanting to be just like Joan of Arc and enter a convent, to becoming the mother of Henry Tudor who later becomes King Henry the VII. Margaret is not a very likeable heroine, she’s always convinced that she’s right and that her way is the only way, she blames others for her problems, but she’s still interesting in how she schemes to put her son on the throne, even putting aside the love of her brother in law as that would not be best for her plan. The book ends with Margaret looking like she will get her wish as Henry Tudor and Richard III meet on Bosworth Field. Though we know how that battle will end from history books I look forward to seeing how it will play out in the next book in The Cousin’s War series which according to Wikipedia will be called The White Princess and will focus on Princess Elizabeth of York the daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and daughter-in- law of Margaret.