I disagree with the book cover that O'Brien is better than Philippa Gregory; PG is still the best, but it wasn't terrible. Weirdly, not much seemed to happen but somehow I was ¾ of the way through the book & yet I hadn't gotten bored. I don't know if the story was gripping enough to read it again (now I know Alice's fate, as I didn't before reading) but I did enjoy it.