The Importance of Wives: Chronicles of the House of Valois

Reviewed by Lucinda E Clarke for Readers’ Favorite

I love books I call ‘leave the bed unmade and the dishes languishing in the sink’ reads, and this is one of those books. Once I started reading The Importance of Wives by Keira Morgan, I could not put it down. Highly recommended. One of the best historical novels I have read.

Recently orphaned Duchess Anne of Brittany is not quite 12, yet her situation could not be more perilous. She is a girl, she has just inherited one of the richest duchies in Europe—and enemies surround her.

It is 1488, and men do not believe that women can rule. The French want to seize her duchy. Across the channel, the English hover, ready to attack. And Anne’s guardians want her power for themselves. They plot to marry her to their chosen candidate, and rule in her stead. It is the traditional fate of heiresses.

But Anne has ideas of her own. She is strong-minded and trained to rule. When she refuses to obey, she finds herself in a civil war, supported by only a few loyalists. Then France invades. Will a girl so young be able to defend her duchy against two adversaries?

Even her most trusted allies advise her to marry. Must she sacrifice her beliefs for her people? Can even a husband save her from the invading French? Must she give up her duchy? Or will she find another way to guard her inheritance?