"Immensely readable and compelling...Highly recommended!" Alison Weir, bestselling author of The Six Wives of Henry VIII "A stunning first novel...this new treatment of Catherine de Valois' story will be a delight to lovers of historical fiction." Bernard Knight CBE author of the 'Crowner John' historical mysteries For fans of Philippa Gregory and Hilary Mantel comes Mari Griffith's debut novel Root of the Tudor Rose. This is the story of a passionate romance and a secret marriage which gave its name to the most famous royal dynasty in the history of Great Britain: the Tudors. When King Henry V and his bride, Catherine de Valois, are blessed with the birth of a son, their happiness is short-lived. Henry's unexpected death leaves Catherine a widow at the age of twenty-one. Then her father, King Charles of France, also dies, and her son inherits both crowns. Henry VI, King of England and France, is just ten months old and needs all his mother's watchful care to protect him from political intrigue. The queen, an attractive young widow, is a foreigner at the English court and now finds herself regarded with suspicion, particularly by the Duke of Gloucester, who will seemingly stop at nothing to protect his own claim to the throne. But lonely, vulnerable Catherine has found true friendship with another foreigner at court, a young Welshman named Owen. Their friendship deepens, but their liaisons must be kept secret at all costs, because Catherine, Queen of England and forbidden to remarry, is in love with a servant ...