The Traitor’s Wife is a fictional tale based upon the real life, genealogical records, and whispered gossip of Edward II
of England. This tale gets right into the hearsay of Edward and Piers Gaveston’s special
relationship right at the opening of the action. The book even has the two discussing the need to produce heirs and determining an appropriate match for Piers. Infighting, schemes, and scandals continue throughout the rest of the entire story. This book definitely shows a more private, hidden face of Edward and his peers than most works written about this time period. As I first started reading this book, I was really glad that the author had included crib notes describing who each person was and their relationship to others in the story. After a while though, I found it much easier to figure out who was who. This was particularly true of those main characters that always seem to be at the thick of the latest melodrama.