✧ Book Review ✧ By Love Divided by Elizabeth St.John

The Lydiard Chronicles:
The Lady of the Tower,
By Love Divided,
Written in their Stars,
By Elizabeth St.John

Publication Dates: 2016 - 2020

Publisher: Falcon Historical

Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction

Duty, passion, and power collide in The Lydiard Chronicles, a gripping trilogy inspired by true events. Follow three courageous women—survivors, strategists, and storytellers—who defy the constraints of society to shape their family’s fate and England’s future. Their voices echo through time. Their legacy changed a nation.

The Lydiard Chronicles is an award-winning, best-selling historical family saga which brings to life the remarkable true stories of the St.John family. Spanning three compelling novels—The Lady of the Tower, By Love Divided, and Written in Their Stars—the series follows the legacy of resilient and intelligent women who lived as spies, courtiers, and diarists during England’s most turbulent century, navigating the quicksand of love and war, political upheaval, and personal sacrifice. 

Bound by fierce family loyalty and unforgettable love, the women of The Lydiard Chronicles defy the limits of their time with passion, courage, and unshakable independence. They endure captivity in the Tower of London, exile in the Louvre Palace, and the heart-wrenching divisions of the English Civil War—fighting not just for survival, but for their beliefs, their families, and the right to choose their own fate. Meticulously researched and vividly told, this epic saga reveals how these women created history from the shadows, leaving a legacy of resilience, defiance, and enduring influence.

Rooted in original diaries, letters, and family papers, The Lydiard Chronicles offers an intimate, biographical portrait of women who moved behind the scenes of power. Serving as trusted secret agents, military wives, and confidantes of kings, they were deeply engaged in the political and religious conflicts of their time. Through tragedy and triumph, the women of The Lydiard Chronicles shape their destinies—and the fate of a nation—in this richly researched and vividly told historical epic.

✧ Review ✧ The Lady of the Tower

Where do I even begin? This book really does tick all the boxes. Not only has the author taken her readers back in time to the Stuart period, but she has also brought back to life characters who have long since been dead. 

While the heroine of this story, Lucy St.John is a strong, brave and intelligent woman she has not had the best of starts, having lost both her parents she is belittled by his aunt Joan, who favours Lucy's sister Barbara over her. Joan does not just physically and emotionally abuse Lucy but she always makes sure Barbara outshines her, much to Barbara's delight. But things finally take a turn for the better when her brother, John announces that once he is wed he will return his sisters to their estates at Lydiard. Lucy could not be more delighted. However, her life will not be one of ease and pleasure if  Barbara has anything to do with it.

I hated Barbara with as much passion as I loved Lucy - she is arrogant and so determined to ruin her sister that she will stop at nothing. Lucy on the other hand is kind, intelligent and has an incredible strength to make the best out of the situations she finds herself in. When she finally marries, Sir Allen Apsley, who becomes the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, her life changes again. On entering the Tower of London, Lucy becomes a woman of great value and kindness, and I could not help but love her for her gentle ways and compassionate soul.

The Lady of the Tower is a page-turning novel that is so moving and so beautifully told that I found myself getting up early before work to read a couple of chapters. Then, I would look forward to coming home and spending the evening reading! 

Elizabeth St.John is not a new author for me, for I thoroughly enjoyed The Godmother’s Secret (which is another book that I highly recommend) and therefore I had high expectations for this novel, and thankfully, I was not disappointed. If you enjoy realistic and very emotional historical fiction based on the lives of real people, then you really must check out Elizabeth St. John's novels.

✧ Purchase Link ✧

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Elizabeth St. John

Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England's kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.

Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.

Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.

Elizabeth's works include The Lydiard Chronicles, a family saga set in 17th-century England during the Civil War, and The Godmother's Secret, which unravels the medieval mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London. Her latest release, The King’s Intelligencer, follows Franny Apsley in the treacherous court of Charles II as she risks everything to uncover the dangerous truth behind the discovery of the princes’ bones.

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