Joan

Forgotten Women of History #1

by Anne R. Bailey

Love, turmoil, and war....

This is the story of Joan de Geneville, wife to one of England's most infamous traitors: Roger Mortimer.

After the death of her father in 1292, Joan becomes one of the greatest English Heiress of her generation. In a time when women are subservient, she is raised by her mother to command. Educated by her tutors, she becomes a formidable woman in her own right.

When Joan is married her husband's lust for power knows no bounds. She is forced to choose between her duty to her King and her loyalty to her husband.

Book One of the Forgotten Women of History Series

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Medieval, British Literature, Plantagenet, Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2015

About the author

Anne is a novelist, entrepreneur and when she can find the time: wife.

Her love of historical fiction, writing, and romance encouraged her to dive head first into the world of publishing. With a cup of warm coffee by her side and her dog at her feet, she can be found at her desk writing late into the night.

Reviews

[Polina Blintsovskaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a book, it is not horribly written and it is easy to follow. However, as a historical novel, it falls very short of providing any interesting insight into the historic personages that its about, and it feels like a shallow, one-dimensional, shelf romance-cheap quality. In real life, Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella were larger-than-life, powerful, fascinating personages, yet Queen Isabella is mentioned only a handful of inconsequential times, and Roger's defining motivational trait is that he is a "slave to his selfish desires." I cannot imagine the book Roger accomplishing everything that the real-life Roger did.
Also, a huge problem is the book's pacing. The historical events, Roger's disaffection with King Edward II, his subsequent partnership with Queen Isabella, rebellion, escape to France, and rise to and fall from power, are all rushed and crammed into the last 20% of the book, while the first 80% are all fodder telling about Roger's wife's upbringing and the early years of her marriage to Roger. The historic events merit an entire full-feature novel or even a series of novels, yet they are crammed in the last pages of the book almost like an afterthought, like the author had remembered at the last minute to insert the mention. It feels like a high school student attempting to summarize all the historical events in a history class assignment essay.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about the wife of Roger Mortimer, Joan de Geneville and her life and times. It started off a bit wobbly but improved a great deal.

Joan's early life and how she inherited from her grandparents was quite fascinating to me. Her Grandfather was Justiciar of Ireland, and one of my ancestors was also a Justiciar so I was intrigued. Her early life was a bit quiet but her marriage to Mortimer presumably was happy for many years, producing 12 living children. They were Marcher nobility, something that presumably went to Mortimer's head as he took more and more risks( the author skipped over that a bit)

Roger Mortimer's relationship with Queen Isabella and the rising of the Marcher Lords against the King led to his downfall and eventual death. Joan, who had nothing to do with her husband's insurrection, lived in relative comfort after Edward III pardoned her.

I have downloaded "The Lady Carey" and will read that,both happily were available to me through Prime Reading.

[Kim Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book through Prime Reading on Kindle. The book sounded interesting, however I was a bit disappointed. I actually googled Joan to learn a bit more and to get my bearings. In really life, there is no information as to who she really was, other than a woman, who inherited vast wealth, lands and a title in her own right. I found fictional Joan to be wishy-washy and behaving in ways not really befitting a woman coming from an important family. I think she would have been stronger than portrayed. There are also passing references to historic events that indicate knowledge of this time period was lacking. I am glad I read it, if only to learn Joan existed and left a lasting legacy in history through her descendants.

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific

I really liked it. I don't get hung up over dates and the like. Its historical fiction and I just want to be entertained while also learning something. Mission accomplished.

[Becky Buelt stockton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but rushed at the end

The early history was detailed, but the ending was so rushed it left lots of why questions. Left too many unanswered mysteries.

[English · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an interesting premise: fascinating in fact. It tells the story of the wife of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. A 14th century Kingmaker, who in the 1320s together with his lover, the Queen of England, conspired to depose the King Edward II of England. Yeah, that's some Plantagenet family intrigue for you.
This is a famous event in English history: but the wife of Roge, Joan de Grenneville is a woman largely forgotten.

Honestly, although this novel wasn't bad, I don't think it did a lot to redress that. It wasn't really long enough to properly flesh out the characters I felt and the major events in which Joan were caught up (her husband's rebellion and brief period of proxy rule) were crammed into the last 20 pages or so. Joan came over a strong woman, but something of a Mary Sue or cardboard cut out. I think she suffered a little for the lack of fleshing out: and the long time jumps didn't always help either.

My only other nitpicks were that a couple of times I could tell this was written by an American, due to the references to bears in Medieval Britain or characters referring to Autum as "fall". Its still an enjoyable book, but I think these characters and events deserved a longer and more detailed treatment. Tell me more about their relationship, feelings, motivations, activities, lives etc.

[Taylor's♡Shelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joan is one of those fill-in-the-blank historical narratives. I generally like my historical fiction heavy in the former and light in the latter, but Bailey does a good job at squarely staying in the realm of possibility and doesn't suffer from the fault of using an enigmatic character to soapbox her own agenda.

Bailey's narrative of Joan's life might not be as dramatic as some historical novels, as Bailey keeps Joan detached from most of the major events of the story of Edward II (as she would have been). Also, this novel doesn't suffer from the issues that I've had with some of Bailey's others.

I've always disliked Roger Mortimer, but this novel really solidified what he threw away in his quest to be recognized.

An enjoyable read if you don't mind historical fiction that's heavy on the fiction.

[Cj · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely book. I guess I didn’t know that if you were not on the direct line you were put in a nunnery. I loved it

[Cheryle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong women in 1300's England

I knew little about this period of English history except stories about King Edward II and his favorite Gaveston, but the author brings it to life through the personal experiences of a minor English noble family who had three daughters and no sons to inherit vast estates in England and Ireland. Joan the eldest daughter is married at age sixteen to the immature son of a baron while the other two daughters are sent to convents to prevent them from marrying husbands who could challenge Joan's hold on her dowry lands. The wheel of fortune makes many changes in this compelling historical read. I read this book through Kindle Unlimited.

[Vj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

This book elaborates on the wife & family of Roger Mortimer & is very interesting - a tale within a tale. I recommend.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not too bad...

Joan was a good book. She was a likable character even if her husband was not. She had a happy family even without her happy ending.

[Boadicea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an alright book about someone who is indeed forgotten.
It's not a great book for several reasons. Firstly, it is a very fictional account. For example, her first child was a boy, Edmund was at least a year older than Margaret. I'm not sure if this was a basic mistake on the author's part, or if she thought it was more dramatic. Considering the 12 children she had, it didn't really work. Moreover, despite the book giving her two sets of twins, that wasn't the case either. Any list I've seen does not state that any of them were twins.
Did she love her husband this much? Some historians point to - 12 children and she travelled often with her husband as a demonstration of her love, which is fair enough, but I don't think it's conclusive, and considering how it ended (Roger running off with the Queen) if it was love, it may have been one sided.
Secondly, it's very flat. This was an exciting time in history, but you wouldn't know it from this book. She met the queen, there were wars, her husband left her for the queen. She could have been talking about the weather!
And it's pretty short. Joan lived to 70, but the story stops when her husband leaves her. This is called Joan, but it's really Joan and Roger. For all the author says she wants to illuminate the forgotten women of history, Joan is apparently only worth discussing as the wife of Roger.
It's an interesting read but don't expect anything in-depth, and don't expect a factual account of this woman.

[Chasity Gaines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and Heartbreaking

Having known about Mortimer's escapades, I was thrilled to get to know more about his loyal and fertile wife. She has been lost in the buzz of the adulterous relationship between Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. Not anymore! Joan was a wonderful read.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mostly superficial read about a woman we don’t know much about. For reasons I can’t quite discern, the author spends most of this book covering Joan’s childhood. The ending is inexplicably rushed. The strangest part was when Joan called her daughter ugly and reprimanded her for being upset about it? 😭 I’m still thinking about that.

[Deborah Necessary · Rating 3 out of 5]

You hear a lot about Roger Mortimer, but little about his wife Joan. I think in the beginning their marriage was a true love match. She presented him with 12 children, which included two sets of twins. Unfortunately, Joan learned that Roger was a selfish man and not worthy of her love.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy finding out about women from history who slipped through the cracks. Joan, wife of Roger Mortimer, is one of these. I'm particularly interested in how these women despite their lack of a voice in society made their place. Joan was an impressive woman.

[Alesha Hubbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

fine. I liked that this was about a historical woman who doesn't get a lot of screen time. but the characters and political landscape were underdeveloped. I was mostly drawing on my limited knowledge of this time period to understand the conflict.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always interesting to come across a historical figure I know absolutely nothing about, especially one on the periphery of events I enjoy reading about. A bit too rushed at the end, and the writing style could have used more showing, less telling (and less cheesy dialogue at times), but otherwise a solid read.

[Lis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very quick read that had me wondering if it was a young adult book. The history was interesting but the characters lacked depth.

[Lucia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook 3*

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was decent not great but good enough

[Marilyn Carol Mayhew]

Enjoyed Joan. Am impressed how many strong women were around Centuries ago, especially from France.

History reminds us we can do all things if needed

[MzIce2u · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple read..but considering not much is know about Joan Mortimer it was interesting.