Book Review: The Women of the Cousins’ War

Gregory, Philippa, and Michael Jones and David Baldwin. The Women of the Cousin’s War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the Queen’s Mother. Atria, Illustrated Edition: 2013.

This book convinced me that I’m not into 15th century England, would have been burned at the stake if I lived in fifteenth century England, and would as a time traveler avoid the fifteenth century. (“Sorry, Doctor, but how about we steer the TARDIS to Greenwich Village circa 1912 instead?”)

I read this for a book discussion group. It has interesting bits, and the war and hanging and beheading stuff is… not… among the interesting bits.

Arranged marriages for twelve-, thirteen-, and fourteen-year-olds and women giving birth to as many as fourteen children was certainly not boring — it was horrifying. The woman married off at twelve was, despite her age, raped on her wedding night, and she gave birth at too young an age and was unable to have more children.

(This reminded me of how, in Ohio, it’s common for children between the ages of nine and fourteen to need abortions because they were raped. And the power-tripping control freak lawmakers in Ohio think these children should go through with the pregnancy instead of getting abortions. #needledickbugfuckers)