The Goldsmith's Wife: Jean Plaidy

Eighteen year old Jane Shore's beauty is known around London. She is well-educated, intelligent - and when she catches the eye of a wealthy goldsmith her father sees in her an opportunity for an advantageous marriage. But the marriage is soon annulled and she becomes the favourite mistress of Edward IV. She is wayward, merry, passionate and good-hearted; her compassion for London's poor brings her widespread popularity and she uses her favour with the king to beg forgiveness for those who have angered him. When Edward suddenly dies, she seduces other men: first Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings. But when Hastings loses the new King's favour, Jane is punished. made to do penance in the London streets dressed only in a kirtle then imprisoned in Ludgate. There, away from the protection of her lovers, she can only face the horrors of those she once protected and pray for salvation.