Lancaster and York

The Wars of the Roses

By: Alison Weir

Narrated by: Maggie Mash

Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Lancater and York is a riveting account of the Wars of the Roses, from the beloved and best-selling historian Alison Weir. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit, and bloody battles. Alison Weir's lucid and gripping account focuses on the human side of history. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband's cause and battled in a violent man's world.

©1995 Alison Weir (P)2012 W F Howes Ltd

Fascinating listen, terrible narrator

Wonderful history with amazing researched detail. I learned so much and listened 2-3 times. I hated the narrator, though. While I understand the need to change intonation to differentiate speakers, especially when quoting, this borders on clownish theater. I loved the content, but the narrator and all her “voices” added nothing and really detracted from the content.

Irritating narrator, excellent content

While I loved hearing a true and comprehensive detailing of the history behind the Wars of the Roses, I found the narrator's quotational voices, particularly of men and children, grating. The book would have been great to hear without such heavy indications. Alison Weir's work, however, was thoroughgoing and engaging.

Brilliant and Riveting!

Another well researched and brilliantly written Alison Weir novel with new details woven together with intricately stitched golden threads of new dimensions to well known historical figures. Weir never fails to keep me intrigued and Maggie Mash’s colorful narration creates new facets in this well executed and riveting production of love, revenge, ambition, political stealth, brutal betrayal and so much more.

Medieval Murder and Mayhem

The time before the Tudors has always confused me - its a turbulent history of different dynasties deposing kings and restorations, of genealogies and bloody battles. The Tower of London the main prison at that time almost had a revolving door on it!

It intrigued me but remained confused - not so after Alison Weir's book. I was riveted and hung on every sentence as the political ambitions were explained as were why and how thing happened in the sequence they did. Weir obviously did extensive research and it showed but not in a negative learned way but in precise and clear explanations.

My only criticisms were the annoying translation of pounds, shillings and pence into modern pounds and "pees" but leaving Marks and Livres totally untranslated to modern amounts and Maggie Mash's accents grated occasionally.

I recommend this book to those who love old English history and a jolly good tale of medieval murder and mayhem.

An interesting history marred by narrator

Alison Weir's histories are usually well researched and written, so I was happy to get this. But the narrator, Maggie Marsh, does great disservice to the text. While a good narrator will use some vocal clues to point up changes of voice in a reading, Ms. Marsh uses broad "accents" that border on characature - perhaps sliding into offensive. This is distracting and does not make the narration better, in fact I'm suprised that a director or the author let it slide by.

Well researched but...

The narrator's constant theatrical shift in voice made it very difficult to enjoy. The author crafted an interesting and worthwhile book. This is one of the few times I regret getting the audio version over the hardcopy version.

Good but dense

The narrator did a great job and the history was interesting, but it was fairly dense and sometimes hard to keep the Lords straight, especially when they were only referred to by their seats.

Never Could have Gotten Thru this book without Audible

Extremely detailed account of the intrigues, treacheries, murders, and rebellions collectively called the Wars of the Roses. If I had attempted to read this book, I'm sure I would not have finished it. Lots of place names and names of Dukes, Earls, kings, etc. made it challenging, but listening vs. reading made a huge difference. The reader did a marvelous job and was easy to listen to. She used different voices when reading quotes, of which there were many, and this helped a lot in following the narrative. I feel very well informed now, about the second half of the 15th century in England. It must have been a hard life for those who managed to die a natural death. For the many who died in battles, or who were decapitated, drawn and quartered, and had their head stuck in a pike for all the town to see, being on the losing side was to be avoided at all costs.

Strange voices...

One of Alison Weir’s most interesting histories- I say this bc I already read so much about War of the Roses, yet she still had me on edge of my seat. Weir is one of the finest writers of popular history.

Ok. Now I have to tackle the narration issue: First, I’ve listened to Maggie Mash so many times, and she is an excellent narrator. She has a beautiful natural voice and when she uses it in this book, it’s lovely.
However, she makes an extremely odd choice (considering this is History and not a bedtime children’s story) of using fake accented voices for direct quotations. Venetian envoys, French diplomats, even English court justices, all have distinct “character” voices that are absolutely ludicrous and, unfortunately, very annoying.

I still finished this book and loved it. I just wish Ms Mash hadn’t made the choice to use bad character voices and foreign accents for every quote in this book.

Finally I once again make a plea to Audible: I’ve been begging continually for 5+ years. Please record “The Princes in the Tower”. It is one of the most important of Weir’s books and is mentioned in the preface of this one. I can’t believe it’s not been recorded already...

New insights into the Cousin's War

I really enjoyed this book about the events leading up to and the early years of the War of the Roses. Most authors start with the reign of Henry VI, however Ms. Weir starts earlier with the reign of Henry IV and the beginning of the Houses of Lancaster and York, all decedents of John of Gaunt. Given this perspective one is allowed to understand the family conflicts that lead to the war. This perspective on the story gives us new insight into why it is indeed the Cousin's War.

Previous reviewers have commented negatively on Ms. Mash's narration due to her use of accents. I do agree that they were grating, especially since they were mostly used for phrases within a sentence. However, we must remember that things such as the use of accents and the placement of these accents falls within the purview of the director not the narrator. The director is responsible for this decision, not the reader. On the whole I have always enjoyed Ms. Mash's narration of books and I will not hold the director's decision against her.