A highly romanticised story of Jane Shore, mistress not only of Lord Hastings but of King Edward IV of England. Reads like a Shakespearean drama.

Elizabeth Shore, known as Jane, was a mistress of King Edward IV of England. She often appears in fiction set during the Wars of the Roses as a minor character – depending on the book, either as a bad influence or a comfort to Edward in his declining health, and a possible conspirator in the rebellion which followed his death – but several novels have also been written specifically about Jane. This one was written in the 19th century by Mary Bennett, a truly ‘forgotten’ author if ever there was one. It seems that she had several historical novels published, though, so she must have enjoyed some success at the time.

As Jane was a relatively unimportant historical figure, there is still a lot that we don’t know about her today – and obviously even less was known in Bennett’s day. If you do choose to read this book, then, you should be aware that although it does follow the basic outline of Jane’s life, not everything in it is factually correct.

Bennett’s Jane is portrayed, in typical Victorian style, as an innocent, virtuous young woman at the mercy of the king, his friend Will Hastings, and several other men who want to take her from her father and husband. She is the sort of person who has things happen to her rather than making them happen herself, which means she is not the most interesting of characters to read about. In fact, I didn’t feel that any of the characters in this novel ever came to life on the page or seemed like real people at all.

This book was entertaining in parts – mainly when the action switched to Wales and the story of two fictional characters, Nesta Llewellyn and the musician Leolin – but very tedious in others and wouldn’t be the best introduction to Jane Shore’s life.