She-wolves

Helen Castor

Why I looked at this book

Despite the succession rules, the British sovereign has been a woman for 63% of the last 200 years. There was a time though, when a female ruler was thought to be unnatural. I'm hoping this book will give an idea of how people came to accept the idea of having a woman in charge, as well as giving a different aspect on some of the early history of Britain.

First impressions

Quite a bit of the sample concerns Edward VI - not quite what I'd expected for a book about female rulers .The point being that on his death in 1553 all of the reasonable contenders for the throne were female, so it was time for a woman to rule England. This serves as an introduction to the earlier women who had come close to power. It's well written and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book.