Portraying the dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses as a medieval House of Cards, debut novelist Catherine Hokin re-interprets the story of Margaret of Anjou as a feminist re-telling of one of the bloodiest periods of English history.

In a powerful revision of a woman frequently imagined only as the shadowy figure demonised by Shakespeare, Blood and Roses examines Margaret as a French Queen in a hostile country, born to rule but refused the right, as a wife trapped in marriage to a man born to be a saint and as a mother whose son meets a terrible fate she has set in motion. As Margaret desperately tries to stave off the judgement of  history by writing her own truth—a desire she knows is almost certainly  doomed – she unfolds a web of intrigue, shifting alliances and secrets and reveals herself as a woman forced to play the highest stakes to pull a throne from the spoils of the battlefield.

 Upcoming Events 

 I will be chairing a 'Question Time Special' at this August's   UK Historical Novel Society Conference - details to follow 

   ​ ​

Blood and Roses: 1460

The English Crown – a bloodied, restless prize.

The one contender strong enough to hold it? A woman. Margaret of Anjou: a French Queen in a hostile country, born to rule but refused the right, shackled to a King lost

in a shadow-land.

When a craving for power becomes a crusade, when two rival dynasties rip the country apart in their desire to rule

it and thrones are the spoils of a battlefield, the stakes can only rise.

And if the highest stake you have is your son?

You play it. 

​

Want to know what's coming next?

To find out more about who you will meet in  my next novel, click here

​

 "A vividly imagined account of the life of Margaret of Anjou"

​ The Writes of Woman

Margaret of Anjou and her pivotal role in the Wars of the Roses.​

Available to Buy in paperback & on kindle at: 

​  Ms Hokin’s debut novel re-imagines history in a way comparable to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon. Her writing is as skilled as any best selling novelist. If historical fiction is your genre, then Blood and Roses won’t disappoint.

 Love Books Group

 "An accomplished, absorbing tale" 

Antonia Senior, The Times