Lancaster and York

The Wars of the Roses

By: Alison Weir

Narrated by: Maggie Mash

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

Narration is awful but still a good story

The narrator is awful, and very irritating in that every time she reads a quote from the book she puts on some great affectation with a strange accent. She ends up sounding like a cackling witch from a Shakespearean play. The author does good Job of telling an interesting story about a time. I’m very interested in. This is the second book from this author that I have purchased, and I am looking forward to listening to many more.

Very enjoyable mish mash of royals.

So good, I will go and buy the book.
And listen again.
Well done and thank you.

The Flowers are beautiful, but the last act is clipped

This detailed and well written account of the War of the Roses, only lacks in its clipping of some elements, such as the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and more importantly the what happened after Edward IV finally defeated the Earl of Warwick, Robert Neville and King Henry VI. This was unfortunately wrapped up very quickly, similar to the rush to finish felt during the last two seasons of Game of Thrones. Other than that, this book was very insightful and very well narrated.

to be listened to more than once.

Maggie Mash is a wonderful narrator. I always find something I missed in the original listen. Alison Weir always manages to write real history and include the juicy bits.

Excellent Story - Poor Narration

Allison weir is an amazing author. She writes history in a storybook way that makes it enchantingly interesting. The narrator however chose to use a different accent for every single quote in the book. I do not know if this was an instruction given to her or a stylistic choice made by her but either way it made it very difficult to finish listening to this book. I often found myself pausing it and reading it to myself to get away from her terrible fake accents. I thankfully have a physical copy of this book but the other books I would’ve loved to listen to by this author I do not have a physical copy of and there is no way I could sit through another narration by Maggie Mash.

Information!

The narrator was good, but not great. She still held her own, but she wasn't the showpiece.
The research put into this book, nay this series is mind-boggling. Bravo, my dears. Bravo.

great story annoying voices.

really good telling of a fascinating period in English history, the narration is good, however the accents are very off putting.

Love Her

I love everything Alison Weir writes. I'm not terribly familiar with English history, but her writing is always so engaging that I'm immediately drawn in.

Unnecessary Dramatization.

Other than the unnecessary and MOST irritating dramatization, the reading of the book was excellent.

Fantastic Book and Narration.

I have to disagree with the negative reviews about the narration. I really think she does an impeccable job recounting the numerous and complex events during the chaotic period during the Wars of the Roses.
Her narration's style (switching from male to female characters, and also doing different language accents) helps immensely to follow along the events in a easier way than having a tedious monotonous reader.

This book is absolutely well researched and is packed with details of the conflicts and its protagonist's lives.
I do recommend it!