Wheel of Fortune (The Tarnished Crown)
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley June 13, 2024
Author C F Dunn
Distributor: Amazon
ISBN: 978-1915981004
Publisher: Resolute Books
Release Date: April 2023
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Set during the time of the War of Roses (1455-85) that raged between the Houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne, Book 1 in the Wheel of Fortune – The Tarnished Crown is a gripping read that has skilfully drawn the protagonists and set the scene for the following books.
Isobel Fenton, only daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton has been bought up as an educated young woman, who is destined to inherit her father’s manor and lands of Beaumancote. Her father, injured in a conflict relies on her skills as an herbalist to help with his many ailments.
She has been betrothed to Thomas Lacy but upon her father’s death she is sent to live with Earl Langton, a man who is powerful, damaged, emotionally hard and obsessed with Isobel. She believes she will be a safe from the turmoils of war surrounding her, but is soon to discover that her life will never be the same again. She may be safe from the war but she is not safe from the Earl, who rapes her and takes her to his bed.
With her life in tatters, her betrothal cancelled, she flees to her beloved Beaumancote, only to be attacked on the way, rescued and returned to the Earls’ stronghold where life gets even more challenging; a woman with little ability to change the situation even though she is titled, wealthy and intelligent.
Robert, the Earl’s brother recently widowed is considered as good match for Isobel, as it becomes politically necessary that she is soon wed. He is still grieving for his wife but becomes a friend of Isobel’s and offers to try and help her; become her protector.
C.F. Dunn has captured the times of the terrible and bloody conflict that saw families, friends and political adversaries pitted against one another in the desire to claim the English throne. This was eventually thwarted by Henry VIIth :the unbridled and lawless activates of both the Houses of Lancaster and York were carried out without mercy and in a cold blooded, ruthless manner.
What is to become of Isobel, a woman who holds the key to the political upheaval surrounding her is yet to be discovered and will no doubt be revealed a little more in Book 2 Sun Ascension.
The Tarnish Crown is an excellent, if somewhat bloody read, which leaves a desire to discover that happens next!