Book: She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor

Pages: 480; Hardcover; Published by Faber and Faber

She-Wolves was an interesting book.  It chronicles Matilda, Eleanor Of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, and Margaret of Anjou.

I thought Matilda was most interesting, and Isabella was pretty interesting too.  Margaret’s section was the most familiar to me, so I ended up glossing over it.  Eleanor was also interesting, and while I knew of her, and probably learned about her at some point, I was a bit fuzzy on her life’s story. 

It was dry, and pretty dense.  It was hard to get through, and the only reason I managed to do it in one sitting was because I had nothing else to do.  She managed to connect Matilda, Eleanor, Isabella and Margaret to both Elizabeth I and her sister Mary (a queen in her own right) rather well, and it was at that point that her interest seemed to shine through. 

It is a very good overview of 4 women, and she does a good job at condensing the information, especially in the Margaret of Anjou/Wars Of The Roses section.  If you’ve read about any of them, then you might be bored.  But if you want an overview, this is the book for you.

I give it a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay for me, but has some good information in it.