I love most of what I have read by this author and so was surprised that I did not like this book. It was pretty good for the first three quarters of the story and then degenerated into a graphic homosexual love affair that not only made me uncomfortable but seemed completely unrealistic and false. Up until that time I had enjoyed the way the characters had been written and the way the story was developing and then it suddenly veered off and seemed as if I was reading an entirely different book half way through. It was less a book written about a historical period in time and more about the relationship between the main character and his employer (his Lord). Honestly it was a little weird and I was disappointed. What a shame her books are usually a really good read. If this was the first time I had read Phillipa Gregory I wouldn't have read any thing else she had written.