''Blood and Roses: One family's struggle and triumph during the tumultuous Wars of the Roses'', by

Helen Castor Helen Ruth Castor (born 4 August 1968) is a British historian of the medieval and Tudor period and a BBC broadcaster. She taught history at the University of Cambridge and is the author of books including '' Blood and Roses'' (2004) and ''She-W ...

, is a narrative history based on the

Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' are a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impo ...

of 15th-century England. The 2004 book traces five generations of the Pastons, an influential family from the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

village of the same name. Based largely on an extensive collection of correspondence, ''Blood and Roses'' records the competition among the landed gentry for land, property and advancement. Set among the turbulence of the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

, the Pastons survive and thrive through shrewd political manoeuvres. Castor extends the narrative and scope of this book beyond previous books of the same topic by recounting in parallel battles between the

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, th ...

and Lancastrian factions with how the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

disrupted the lives of the Paston family. ''Blood and Roses'' was long-listed for the BBC

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

for non-fiction in 2005. It was also awarded the Beatrice White Prize for outstanding scholarly work in the field of English literature before 1590, by the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

in 2006.

References

2004 non-fiction books 21st-century history books History books about England Faber & Faber books {{England-hist-book-stub