The Queen's Sisters: The Lives of the Sisters of Elizabeth Woodville

by Sarah J. Hodder

Whether Queen or commoner, the lives of women throughout history is a fascinating study. Elizabeth Woodville, 'The White Queen', managed to make the transition from commoner to Queen and became the epitome of medieval heroines - the commoner who married a King. When she became the wife of Edward IV her actions changed the life of her entire family. Vilified both by their contemporaries and by many historians since, the Woodville family were centre stage during the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III. Elizabeth Woodville became the ancestress of future Kings and Queens. This book takes a fresh look at the lives of Elizabeth's sisters. Although information on them is scarce, by looking at the men they married, their families, the places they lived and the events that they lived through we can catch a glimpse of their lives. Each sister has their own story to tell and they may not have achieved the dizzying heights that their sister did, but they are all fascinating women.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Biography, Historical, Medieval, Tudor Period

113 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2020

About the author

Sarah J. Hodder began her career in publishing as a Production Manager for Shire Publications, but has had a love of books since childhood. She is passionate about medieval and Tudor history, her particular interest being in the lives of women.

Reviews

[Juliew. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this as these ladies are such a mystery to us.A small mention in a history of Elizabeth of York or in a biography of Henry VIII thats mostly all I have ever read personally till now.What struck me about this book was how it was organized with the author using marriage records to track them and the resulting assumptions of where,with who,the how and the why of how they lived.Very fascinating and I only wished more personal characteristics were more forth coming.We may never know but the author did a commendable job and if you have any interest in the Woodvilles it would definitely be worth a read.

[Adrienne Dillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly engaging read. Hodder places the Woodville sisters in the context of their times, giving us a deeper look into the lives of the women at the heart of the conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. So often, historians tend to focus on the "celebrities" of the period and forget the ancillary people who played important roles behind the scenes. Hodder brings these women out of the shadows and gives them voice, contributing to a better understanding of the world they inhabited.

[Alyson Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book: The Queen’s Sisters
Author: Sarah J Holder
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Chronos Books, for sending me an ARC.

So, I am just going to start by putting this one out there: don’t pick up this one if you don’t know anything about the War of the Roses. There, I said it. This is a very short book and the author doesn’t hold your hand in this one. Yes, it’s a fairly easy read, but if you don’t have the proper background knowledge, you will not be able to follow what is happening. The War of the Roses is messy and there’s a lot to it. Sarah writes this one like you have a pretty understanding of just how the war went down. No, don’t rely on historical fiction either to give you a full understanding.

This book looks into the lives of Elizabeth Woodville’s sisters and how her rise to queen affected them. Sarah points out throughout the book that there just isn’t a lot of information on them, which I get. I mean, a lot of times history writes out women. Anyway, given the small amount of information that we have, Sarah is able to paint a pretty good picture of the sisters. Now, normally, I would have liked to have more, but, again, history has kind of forgotten about them. I like how she was just honest with the fact that we don’t actually know that much about them.

Each sister gets her own chapter. Some are longer than other, simply because we have more information or they just happened to have longer lives. I loved getting to see kind of a behind the scenes look at women in history. It kind of reminds us that history just isn’t about the men. We get to see just how difficult life was in the 1400s and that women back then really aren’t all that different from today. We get to see day to day life, what it was like to have little to no say in your life, and how actions of one family member affects the others. I just enjoyed this short little look into the War of the Roses.

Now, I would recommend going into this one with some kind of understanding of the War of the Roses. It’s not the author’s fault, but there clearly is an intended audience here. If you are someone who is looking for a little bit more about the War of the Roses, then I encourage you to pick this one up.

This book comes out on April 1, 2020.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/-m9QOSZGbZs

[Heidi Malagisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the Woodville family has fascinated those who study the Wars of the Roses for centuries. Their mother Jacquetta of Luxembourg married Richard Woodville because she loved him, even though he was the chamberlain of her late husband. Jacquetta and Richard had numerous children, notably Elizabeth Woodville, who would marry the first Yorkist king, Edward IV. Elizabeth and her brothers are often talked about when discussing the Woodville children, however, Elizabeth had several sisters who married relatively powerful men. The stories of the sisters are rarely told, until now. Sarah J. Hodder has decided to take on the task of exploring the lives of these hidden figures in her debut book, “The Queen’s Sisters: The Lives of the Sisters of Elizabeth Woodville”.

I would like to thank Chronos Books for sending me a copy of this book. As someone interested in the Wars of the Roses, I wanted to read more about the Woodville family, so this book caught my eye.

Hodder has a chapter for each of the sisters; Jacquetta, Anne, Mary, Margaret, Jane, Katherine, and the possible seventh sister, Martha. The order of chapters is important because it is the order of which they were born. There is no chapter strictly dedicated to Elizabeth Woodville since there are several biographies dedicated to her alone. Instead, Hodder has chosen to show how Elizabeth’s shift in her social standing, from a widow of a Lancastrian knight to a Yorkist queen, affected the lives and marriages of her sisters. They may not be as famous as their sister, but their stories are equally as fascinating as Elizabeth and her royal life. They are filled with struggles and triumphs, strong loyalty and betrayals. These sisters and their stories present a window into what it meant to be a woman during the Wars of the Roses and beyond.

This book is best described as a series of “bite-sized biographies” as each chapter is only a few pages long. Since women were rarely recorded in medieval history, unless they were royal women, not much is known about different aspects of the sisters’ lives and their feelings about their husbands, as Hodder explains several times in this book. Hodder does her best to use what evidence and facts that we have of these sisters to tell their tales. The only real problem that I had with this book was that I wish it was a bit longer because I wanted more of their stories.

Overall, I found Hodder’s debut book enjoyable, easy to read, and rather intriguing. She truly brought these sisters out from behind Elizabeth’s shadow and into the light so that we can better understand this dynamic family. Their children and grandchildren would go on to serve Richard III and the Tudors. This book is definitely for those who understand the basics of the Wars of the Roses as Hodder mentions members of the nobility and future royals who would either benefit or fall because of the Woodvilles. If you are compelled to learn more about the hidden figures in the Woodville family, I encourage you to read, “The Queen’s Sisters: The Lives of the Sisters of Elizabeth Woodville” by Sarah J. Hodder.

[Éowyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, the major problem with writing about medieval women is the lack of source material. It was always going to be a bit of a task therefore to write a book about the sisters of Elizabeth Widville (which the author seems to know if the more authentic contemporary spelling, but weirdly declines to use!). The questions if therefore, why would you bother? The book is too lightweight and with more supposition than fact. The bibliography is also pretty lightweight and narrow in focus.

At one point the author places Weobley is Hertfordshire instead of Herefordshire - the sort of error that makes me suspect every other 'fact'.

On one side there is obvious an assumption that the reader has a bit of background knowledge on the period, but then at other times you get really over-simplistic statements around what was going on, which really aren't helpful. The author also states that Elizabeth Widville is a bit of an 'heroine' of hers. Unfortunately this bias does come through as the Widvilles can apparently do no wrong!

RRP is around £10 and for a text that only runs to 85 pages, I'm afraid I think that's a bit steep!

[Amy McElroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic debut! Beautifully written and referenced throughout. The book dedicates a chapter to each of the Woodville daughters and I really liked the citation used at the beginning of each chapter.

There is little information available on these ladies and the author has done a fantastic job of researching what's available and bringing it together to provide a glimpse of the lives of these females and the impact on their lives following their sisters marriage to Edward IV.

It's a short book but I enjoyed it as I found Hodder has stuck to the topic when it would have been easy to fill more pages with unnecessary information about the era.

I am hugely interested in the Plantagenet and Tudor era so this grabbed my attention straight away and I was not disappointed. My only regret it that there isn't more information available as I like the authors writing style and could easily have read more! I am looking forward to reading more by this author!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Elizabeth Woodville married King Edward IV in secret in 1464, the fortunes of her family changed. The Queen's Sisters looks at the less documented lives of Elizabeth's sisters, with each chapter dedicated to one of her six or possibly seven sisters. The lives of these women were often exciting but also full of uncertainties and tragedies, especially when the fathers, husbands, or brothers were called to war or caught up in political intrigue and were faced with conflicting loyalties.

I found this book well written, easy to read, and full of interesting information. I liked that the author pointed out the role women were expected to play within the household and managing estates, especially when their husbands were away. It is hard to imagine how girls who married so young must have felt when they were expected to move in with in-laws and grow up away from their own families. Also, the fact that widows gained some independence after the death of a husband only to lose much of that if they remarried, almost made me wonder why they would even contemplate another marital alliance unless they were forced to do so.

It is sad to think how little was documented about the Queen's sisters. Considering their advantageous marriages and the fact that they were close to the center of power, one would think there would be more information available about them. And although the author might not have intended it, I found myself rather bothered by the fact that these women were largely ignored by history. Why should their lives and stories be so unimportant? Was it merely because of their gender? Thinking about this made me appreciate the author's interest in shedding light on this forgotten past, even if it meant having to dig through the history of men to learn about the secret lives of interesting and historically significant women.

Thanks to Chronos Books for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.
More reviews at: www.susannesbooklist.blogspot.com

[Moniek Bloks · Rating 3 out of 5]

When King Edward IV of England married the widowed Elizabeth Woodville, she came with a big family, including many sisters. Having their sister as Queen meant that the sisters were mostly conveniently married off into the high-status noble families.  

The Queen's Sisters by Sarah J. Hodder delves into the lives of Elizabeth's sister as they lived by her side through the English court's ups and downs. Despite being born the daughters of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, who had been born into a high-status family and was by her first marriage a Royal Duchess - very little is actually recorded about their lives.

This tragically means that the book is very thin and also has quite a bit of guesswork to it. There is, unfortunately, no escaping this when writing about women, so much has been lost to us. I enjoyed the light writing style and the book's attempt to fill a void. We can only wish it could have been longer.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Might have.” “Could have.” “Possibly.” “Maybe.” Now you can skip reading the book. I’ve summarized what I knew before and after reading this book. I don’t write many reviews. But did so I could spare someone 90 pages of wasted time. I’m sorry to be so mean but was disappointed.

[Melisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and to the point. This book was definitely not as long as I expected it to be, but it was informative. The lives of Elizabeth Woodville's sisters are mostly over looked, and this book is a quick foray into them. It was a quick read, but it was also enjoyable.

[Izzy Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched, easy to read book. Provided me with lots of answers to my questions and lots to ponder on after.

[Zosi · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s nothing wrong with this book, there just isn’t much to it. I understand there’s not a lot of information available about the girls, but I thought that this was a full length book and was looking forward to it as such. Found it a little confusing bc I haven’t read up on the wars of the roses in a while, but it was easy enough to navigate. I liked the theories the author was able to make about these women based on the available information, based on sociopolitical norms of the time.

[historic_chronicles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legend has it that Elizabeth Woodville, a young widow, stood under an oak tree in Whittlebury Forest, desperate to plead the case of the inheritances owed to her sons to King Edward IV. When the confident Yorkist king came across the beautiful widow, the pair fell in love and the rest was history.

Whether the legend runs true or not, the marriage between King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, a woman of minor noble gentility, in 1464 was to change the lives of all those involved. The bloody Wars of the Roses (or the Cousin's War) where York and Lancaster battled for supremacy pitted family members and friends against each other in an unceasing challenge where one was to question if loyalty to the crown was more important than to that of one's own family.

Often disregarded as mere footnotes within the tales of their famous contemporaries, Sarah J. Hodder has created this fascinating work to the tragically forgotten sisters of Queen Elizabeth Woodville.

The author dedicates each chapter to each sister respectively, allowing the reader to introduce themselves to the clear identities and figures of each woman: Jacquetta, Anne, Mary, Margaret, Jane, Katherine, and the the still-debated possible seventh sister - Martha.

Unfortunately, as these women were not regarded as "key players" or male during the 15th century, there is tragically very little source material on them, however Hodder is upfront on this matter from the offset and still performs a remarkable achievement in building a picture of each sister, along with the difficulties and dangers of being a woman during this time period.

An accessible, fast-paced read for those with prior knowledge of the Wars of the Roses, The Queen's Sisters is the perfect reading companion for those who feel that the women behind the history are sometimes the most fascinating figures.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The women during the Wars of the Roses hold as much fascination with the modern day reader as their male counterparts.
In this, her first book, Sarah takes us on a journey to find out who were the sisters of The White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville and why history has until now, given them a cursory glance.
To be honest, like many, I knew next to nothing about the sisters save for Katherine and her marriage to Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham.
From the first page, you can see why the author is passionate about telling their story - to right history’s misconception of the family and to give these women their own identity; as all too often when discussed, they have been labelled together as the ‘Woodville Clan’.
I like the addition of the places to visit that have the Woodville connection - my to visit list has gotten that little bit longer !!!!!
Well written and I only wish that it was longer.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very slim book (85 pages!) I think Hodder could have dug deeper. I would have liked at least a little more on the time period if there was really nothing else in the primary sources on the Woodville daughters. And how did Elizabeth not get her own chapter???

There should have been a family tree at the beginning of each chapter - I had a hard time keeping track of all the connections, and would have liked to track them better.

[Juliette · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
I expected a bit more from this book. I know it's very hard to find information on women during this time period but I purchased this book with the objective of learning more about Elizabeth's sisters whose lives were forever changed by the fact their sister unexpectedly became Queen of England.
It was still informative and a recap for me about the different events of the War of the Roses.

[Jackie Skingley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Sarah Hodder’s debut book. The story of the Woodville sisters, their lives, marriages and fortunes, set during the War of the Roses, a time of upheaval and treachery. Elizabeth, their eldest sister, consort to Edward IV, known as the White Queen, was pivotal to their destinies.
Sarah brought to life the events that befell them and the fate of their families.

An excellent read.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had the makings of a great book. Well referenced, beautifully written. Just a shame the editing allowed so many misprints in relation to dates. For those who are just starting their journey with the Woodville, these misprints would cause unending confusion.

[Kes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather short book on the history of Elizabeth Woodville's sisters. Each chapter is dedicated to a sister, who they married, and the children they might have had. It's useful if you're interested in that period of history.

[Jackie Humphreys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

A good read, sometimes difficult to follow but very interesting it helps if you have knowledge of the hostile period to begin with

[Miss H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about little known women of the time.