Review: A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith

In A Rose for the Crown, we meet one of history's alleged villains through the eyes of a captivating new heroine -- the woman who was the mother of his illegitimate children, a woman who loved him for who he really was, no matter what the cost to herself. 

As Kate Haute moves from her peasant roots to the luxurious palaces of England, her path is inextricably intertwined with that of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III. Although they could never marry, their young passion grows into a love that sustains them through war, personal tragedy, and the dangerous heights of political triumph. 

Anne Easter Smith's impeccable research provides the backbone of an engrossing and vibrant debut from a major new historical novelist.

Author's Note: We know Richard had a mistress -- perhaps more than one -- because two of his bastard children are mentioned in records from the period. No one has discovered her identity, which has allowed me to invent her. This is her story -- as plausible as a thorough research into the period and lives of the non-fictional characters allowed .

Paperback, 672 pages

Published March 14th 2006 by Touchstone 

Audio length: 25 hrs and 21 mins

*sign* why has it taken me so long to read this book, or anything by Anne Easter Smith?  I can't think of a good excuse, it's not the size because I love a good thick book.  It's not the presentation because the cover is gorgeous. It's not because I've heard negative things about this book, on the contrary I have heard nothing but good things (and others she has written).  So last week I decided enough already and purchased the audio from audible, loaded up my iPod and went for a walk. Then I walked some more, then I cleaned the house, took the dog for another walk (he thanks you Anne), folded laundry. I did whatever I could so to continue with this story. I was captivated right from the get go.

Kate is only a young girl when introduced, she is spunky and lively but also mature for her age, though I must remind myself that girls grew up faster in the 1400's, there wasn't a lot of time to just be kids.
This book comes in at 672 pages in an over-sized softcover, it is a romance but not done in a harlequin kind of way.   It's historical and the author really knows her stuff and wove this story around actual events which made the story very plausible.

As this author states in her notes, there isn't a lot of information about Kate Haute and this book fills in the gaps that not only humanized her but Richard III as well, it was nice to view him in this light for a change.

Rosalyn Landor is the reader and she is one of my very favorites, her voice matches the time period perfectly and it always a pleasure to listen to.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

In one of Tey's bestselling mystery novels ever, Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is intrigued by a portrait of Richard III. Could such a sensitive face actually belong to one of history's most heinous villains—a king who killed his brother's children to secure his crown? Grant determines to find out once and for all what kind of man Richard was and who in fact killed the princes in the tower.

The Daughter of Time is a 1951 novel by Josephine Tey, often referenced by supporters of King Richard III of England, despite the fact that it never claims to be other than fiction. It was the last book Tey published shortly before her death.
"Without leaving his bed, Grant investigates the evidence & arrives at a convincing solution by means of acute historical detection, in a tale which Anthony Boucher called "one of the permanent classics in the detective field," & which Dorothy B. Hughes has termed "not only one of the most important mysteries of the year, but of all years of mystery".
The title of the novel is taken from Bertolt Brecht's play Life of Galileo, in which the eponymous hero observes: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority."

 Paperback, 192 pages

Published 1974 by Penguin (first published 1951) 

 

Did King Richard III really murder (or arrange to have murdered) his nephews in the Tower of London?  Were they a threat to the throne he claimed?  Though this book claims to be fiction it does read like an actual police case, the gathering of facts and attempting to prove that Richard III is innocent of one of the most infamous unsolved crimes in history.

Anything that I've ever read about the princes in the tower have always shown King Richard III as the bad guy, the one responsible for the murders. With the discovery of King Richard III's body recently and so much in the news I felt it was time to listen to the other side of the story.  The reader of this audio did a wonderful job, easy to listen to and I really enjoyed the story, I always love first person narrative, especially in an audio. 

Definitely a book for Richardian's out there.

My first book by this author and it was only after reading that I found out it was book 5 in a series of 6 books, which didn't affect the story at all.