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As a young girl, Jacquetta is married to England’s regent in France, John, Duke of Bedford. But her new husband has little interest in Jacquetta as a wife; it is her alleged descent from the goddess Melusina and the gift of sight as well as finding a way to turn metal into gold that he’s after. Following her husband’s death, Jacquetta (a widowed duchess with connections to the French royal family) is not content to let her life be determined by others and takes her future into her own hands by marrying her husband’s squire, Richard Woodville. As part of the retinue that escorts the king’s bride, Margaret of Anjou, from France, Jacquetta and the young queen form a close friendship until fate steps in forcing Margaret into exile and making Jacquetta’s daughter the new Queen of England.

I enjoyed the first part of The Lady of the Rivers.  Jacquetta meets Joan of Arc who is under the care of her aunt and by her fate, Jacquetta learns what happends to women who defy the rules of men.  The witchcraft accusations against Eleanor Cobham brings the lesson a little closer to home and Jacquetta and Richard hope that her past doesn't come back to haunt them.  Jacquetta and Richard fall in love and plan a life together despite the risk. But once Jacquetta is at court as one of the queen’s ladies, the focus shifts from being about Jacquetta to really being just another account of the political turmoil and conflict going on around her. Not that I would have wanted to read an endless recollection about Jacquetta retiring to her estates to have another baby every year either (which is mostly what Jacquetta was doing when she wasn’t at court). But because it would have to be either one or the other, I think it highlights the fact that Jacquetta was probably a poor choice of narrator.

I liked Jacquetta though and her family. The Woodvilles are too often portrayed as one dimensional villains or as the devil on earth, so it was nice to see them as real people – people who love, laugh, fear, grieve and through it all, manage to land on their feet. I also liked Gregory’s treatment of Margaret of Anjou. Instead of the usual she-wolf-bitch who caused the whole country to go to war, this Margaret is softer, and more sympathetic. Still, she is no man’s doormat and she fiercely protects what is hers and isn’t going to give it up without one heck of a fight. Can't really blame her though.

But despite liking the two main characters, the actual story-telling was just average and there's nothing really new here. The first person narration again causes problems with awkward dialogue at times for purposes of telling the reader what has happened elsewhere or helping keep all of the Richard, Henry and Edwards straight (by reminding the reader at every opportunity of who a person is by title and or relation) . Although this problem comes with the territory a little bit (and even the best writers are forced to do it from time to time), a skilled writer finds ways to minimize its use. Although I didn’t think The Lady of the Rivers was as bad as The Other Queen, it lacked the intensity and drama of The Other Boleyn Girl and the insight and characterizations of The Boleyn Inheritance (the two books of Gregory’s that I really liked).