Returning to England, they marry in secret before the king can remarry her to someone else. She and the Duke's handsome squire Richard Woodville realize that they have fallen in love and become lovers. He later dies and leaves Jacquetta a wealthy widow at 20. On their wedding night, however, the Duke explains that he wishes to keep her a virgin so that she may use the powers of her family in their purest form in his alchemical experiments seeking the ability to turn iron into gold. Three years later at age 17, Jacquetta is given in marriage to John, Duke of Bedford, the uncle to King Henry VI and the English regent in France. Jacquetta befriends Joan of Arc, who is a prisoner at her uncle's castle, but later watches in horror as Joan is burned at the stake by the English-backed church. Plot įourteen-year-old Jacquetta, whose noble family claims descendance from the water goddess Melusine, learns the secrets of her inherited powers from her great-aunt Jehanne, the Demoiselle of Luxembourg. The novel serves as a prequel to Gregory's The White Queen (2009), the story of Elizabeth's reign as Queen consort of England.
The story is narrated by Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of Elizabeth Woodville, and covers the reign of the Lancastrian King Henry VI. The Lady of the Rivers is a 2011 historical novel by Philippa Gregory, part of her series The Cousins' War.
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