In the original dustsheet. Purple cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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‘O’Brien is now approaching Philippa Gregory status’ – Reader’s Digest
A dangerous word, perhaps, for a woman. Power.’

From her first clandestine marriage, Joan of Kent’s reputation is one of beauty, rumour and scandal. Her royal blood makes her a desirable bride. Her ambition and passion make her a threat. Joan knows what she must do to protect her reputation…the games to play, the men to marry. She will do anything to get what she wants: The Crown of England.

A tale of ambition, treachery and desire, The Shadow Queen tells of a woman’s ascent through the court to command royal power alongside her young son, King Richard II.

Review: Born in the fourteenth century, a royal princess, albeit a minor one, Joan (known to us as the Fair Maid of Kent) is introduced to us as a flighty teenager, groomed by her family to marry according to Royal command. The chosen groom is William Montague, however young Joan has been foolish enough to fall head over heels with an impoverished knight, Thomas Holland, to whom she has given her hand in secret marriage and, worse, consummated it! Said knight is now off earning his living in someone else’s war in distant lands, but a royal command is a royal command and family pressure is overwhelming. This youthful folly sets the scene for the lovely Joan’s life as years of legal and religious wrangles ensue, kingly feathers are ruffled, her family is furious and the bonds of love are tested to the limit. It is to her credit that our heroine is well aware of the upheavals she has caused, and her maturing character is well drawn and believable, as she holds fast to what she believes is her destiny – royal power, and the right to love and marry according to her heart.

Anne O’Brien has given us a cracking, well paced read which gives its protagonists full character development and does not rush any part of the twists and turns of this high medieval drama. Once again, I am wondering why publishers are tending to rush their proof-reading(!), but that does not detract from overall enjoyment of this book. Fans of O’Brien and of this period of history will thoroughly enjoy this well crafted tale of a lesser known, but compelling figure.

Anne was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire. After gaining a B.A. Honours degree in History at Manchester University, a PGCE at Leeds University and a Masters degree in education at Hull University, she lived in the East Riding as a teacher of history. Always a prolific reader, she enjoyed historical fiction and was encouraged to try her hand at writing. Success in short story competitions spurred her on.

Leaving teaching – but not her love of history – she wrote her first historical romance, a Regency, which was published in 2005. This was followed by nine historical romances and a novella, ranging from medieval, through the Civil War and Restoration and back to Regency, all of which have been published internationally.

Since then Anne has sidestepped historical romances to write about the silent women of medieval history.  As Virginia Wolfe once said: ‘For most of History, Anonymous was a Woman.’  For this reason, she decided to shake the cobwebs from some of these medieval women of interest and allow them to take the stage, three-dimensional and with much to say.

Here they are.  And what a remarkable group of women who deserve to be given a voice:

Anne Neville, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, a pawn in the game of marriage and power-brokering, but from a family not notable for its silence.  Alice Perrers, ambitiously scheming mistress of King Edward III, but also a smart business-woman.  Katherine de Valois, a naive political bride for Henry V who managed to snatch some happiness when she found the strength to take Owen Tudor into her tragic life.  Katherine Swynford whose liaison with John of Gaunt was not a light-hearted love affair, but a scandal of sinful proportions.

Then there is Elizabeth of Lancaster, dragged into the depths of treason by her marriage to John Holland, thus her husband set in conflict against her brother the King.  Joan of Kent, notable for her clandestine marriages, but worthy of so much more in the manipulation of power.  Elizabeth Mortimer, forceful wife of the infamous Hotspur. Invisible Queen Joanna of England and treacherous Constance of York, both women of some reputation.  Cecily Neville, doyenne of the Wars of the Roses, must of course take a bow upon the stage.

Her new novel for September 2021 concerns the remarkable women of the Paston family who allowed us to see so much of their lives and their menfolk through their letters.

Anne now lives with her husband in an eighteenth century timber-framed cottage in the depths of the Welsh Marches in Herefordshire, a wild, beautiful place on the borders between England and Wales, renowned for its black and white timbered houses, ruined castles and priories and magnificent churches. Steeped in history, famous people and bloody deeds as well as ghosts and folk lore, it has given her inspiration for her writing. Since living there she has become hooked on medieval history.

Sometimes she escapes from writing. She enjoys her garden, a large, rambling area where she grows vegetables and soft fruit as well as keeping control over herbaceous flower borders, a wild garden, a small orchard and a formal pond. With an interest in herbs and their uses, Anne has a herb patch constructed on the pattern of a Tudor knot garden and enjoys cooking with the proceeds. Gardening is a perfect time for her to mull over what she’s been writing, as she wages war on the weeds.