What do readers think of The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory? Write your own review.

If you read this book, do so with caution! Why? It's really good. And it's the first in a series of six books (with a seventh reportedly in the works). I read the second in the series, "The White Queen," first, and it's even better than this one.

Written by Philippa Gregory, whom USA Today has dubbed "the queen of royal fiction," this book begins in 1430 in France with the story of Jacquetta, a young girl with the "sight" (ability to foresee the future), and her eventual adult life serving in the English court of the rather inept King Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou. It is under his reign that the War of the Roses--the bloody battle between cousins--begins and nearly tears apart England.

And while there is a lot of history packed into this book, the main focus is on the women--those unheralded and forgotten characters that had such a powerful and influential impact on their husbands and, thus, on events that shaped the times.