{"product_id":"blood-and-roses-one-familys-struggle-and-triumph-during-the-tumultuous-wars-of-the-roses-9780007162222","title":"Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"A gripping family saga. . . . Page-turners are rarely written by scholars of the 15th century, but Castor wears her learning admirably lightly. \u003cem\u003eBlood and Roses\u003c\/em\u003e is nothing less than a ripping yarn.\" --\u003cem\u003eThe Indepedent\u003c\/em\u003e (London)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Wars of the Roses tore England asunder. Over the course of thirty years, four kings lost their thrones, countless men lost their lives on the battlefield or their heads on the block, and others found themselves suddenly flush with gold. Yet until now, little has been written about the ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlood and Roses\u003c\/em\u003e is a gripping, intimate story of one determined family conducting everyday business against the backdrop of a disintegrating society and savage civil war. Drawing on a rare trove of letters discovered in a tumbledown stately home, historian Helen Castor reconstructs the turbulent affairs of the Pastons through three generations of births, marriages, and deaths as they single-mindedly worked their way up from farmers to landed gentry. It is a remarkable chronicle of devotion, ambition, and survival that brings a remote and hazy era to vibrant new life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCastor, Helen:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eHelen Castor is a historian of medieval England and a Bye-Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her first book, \u003cem\u003eBlood and Roses\u003c\/em\u003e, was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the English Association's Beatrice White Prize. Her second book, \u003cem\u003eShe-Wolves\u003c\/em\u003e, was selected as one of the books of the year by \u003cem\u003eThe Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, Financial Times\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eBBC History Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e. She lives in London.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50459881570578,"sku":"9780007162222","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_03347667-f451-437d-a6b5-7fc081e9d5bf.jpg?v=1730011321","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/blood-and-roses-one-familys-struggle-and-triumph-during-the-tumultuous-wars-of-the-roses-9780007162222","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}