Philippa Gregory is an extremely talented writer who can make her readers sympathize with the most heinous of characters. In this book, however, I felt that her characterizations were rather weak. I didn't really understand the characters or their motivations until the end of the book, and then, while I saw them, they didn't entirely make sense. While Richard remains a fairly steady character throughout the book, Anne's relationship with the members of her family seem to shift and sway over time. I couldn't always keep up with the changes in her opinions of other characters. Overall, I was disappointed.