Philippa Gregory's 'Cousins' War' series of novels is a tour de force at shining a light on the women that were the powers behind thrones during the Wars of the Roses. But, of course, her books are historical fiction and so there is an aspect of imagination and speculation that renders their historical accuracy questionable. So, to help separate the fact from the fluff, she partnered with two other eminent historians to produce mini biographies of the three main protagonists; Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford; Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England; and Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII.

The three writers are very careful not to needlessly repeat each other where events intersect, but equally repeat enough of the necessary information so that you can easily fit these women's lives together and follow the path of the war from each side. As a result, each biography is an incredibly interesting read on its own, but when put together it gives you a credible and easily digestible overview of the whole peiod.

Of course, they are not to the same depth that you would expect from a full scholarly work; indeed, I'd be very interested to read a full biography of Jacquetta if Gregory wrote it and I was actually shocked to learn that one doesn't already exist! This does mean that feel like they only skim the surface and feel a bit 'half hearted' for my taste.

In some ways, the fictional novels do give more depth to their characters and bring them to life a bit more. There are two sides to this for me. On the downside, where women are so often expunged from the historical record and then 'rediscovered' in fiction, it seems that it's these fictionalised versions that are carried forward into the future and very quickly the fiction is mistaken for fact. However, these fictionalised histories do then seem to encourage historians to explore and publish non-fiction biographies. And either way, their stories are being added into the wider narrative, which can only be a good thing! 

This book does seem like an attempt by Gregory to draw a line clear distinction between the fiction of her novels and TV dramas and the real history, and is clearly written for that audience; there are no footnotes or other scholarly interjections, just a list of sources at the end of each essay. But I have to wonder how wide-reaching this book became compared to the novels and TV series, and therefore how successful it was at igniting an interest in the real women. Yes, it absolutely worked on me, but I'm in love with this period of history anyway.

I think Gregory has a real skill and flair for historical fiction writing (she's introduced me to some of my favourite historical characters and periods!), but I feel like she should perhaps be signposting her readers to fuller non-fiction biographies of her characters at the end of each book, which would probably serve her readers better.