New book and Wilkinson

Amongst the many books out already, or about to come out, is a
biography of Margaret de la Pole by one Hazel Pierce. It's at Amazon
for UKP24.99.
Anyone read it yet?

As for Josephine Wilkinson's book "Richard the young king to be":-

I am struggling through it.
What do others think?

My thoughts to date, up to around page 90, go like this:-

I was less than 30 pages into Josephine Wilkinson's book Richard the
Young King to Be when the question I had asked myself, why two
volumes, was answered, as each and every saint whose name was given
to a scion of the House of York was given a full history. What this
has to do with why Richard Plantagenet became the man he became is
beyond me, and of little interest.

I was sitting on the bus reading more of this book when the writer
mentioned someone called Richard, and I had to ask myself who she was
talking about as I had by then almost forgotten.

Whereas Susan Higginbottom in her blog review says :-

"though highly sympathetic to Richard, it avoided the romanticism of
Paul Murray Kendall - no escaping with Anne to breathe the free air
of the moors, for instance"

what we do get though is stuff like this:-
referring to our Richard after the news of Wakefield

"that mocking crown would haunt him like a half-remembered nightmare,
casting its dark shadow overhis waking thoughts and troubling his
deepest dreams"


"in the hushed , numbed days following the death of his father, as
the winter snows buried the dead and the icy winds whispered to the
living"


The first suggests she knows what Richard was thinking, and what his
dreams were about, and the second is just as fruity as anything
Kendall wrote!

And after the pages and pages on the lives of the saints of all the
names given to Richard and his brothers and sisters, in chapter 4,
straight after the death of the Duke of York, comes something that
had me groaning out loud

"Richard of York's choice of favourite saints is worth of comment".


Another two bloody pages of the lives of the saints!
And she keeps calling Queen Margaret 'Marguerite', so bloody
pretentious, as well as annoying.

I got to chapter 6 yesterday and began to like the book. That chapter
is full of detail about Richard's childhood, his education, where he
went, what he did, and his duties once created Duke of Gloucester. At
last the book has focused on Richard I thought. Then discussion of
King Edward's marriage began, and the author uses More as a reliable
source for the king's appearance. She does say he was probably only 5
or 6 when he died, but finds nothing wrong with saying his
description of the King is valid. I now dread reading on.

Paul

Richard liveth yet

--- In , Paul Trevor Bale <paul.bale@...> wrote:
>
> Amongst the many books out already, or about to come out, is a
> biography of Margaret de la Pole by one Hazel Pierce. It's at Amazon
> for UKP24.99.
> Anyone read it yet?
>
> As for Josephine Wilkinson's book "Richard the young king to be":-
>
> I am struggling through it.
> What do others think?
>
> My thoughts to date, up to around page 90, go like this:-
>
> I was less than 30 pages into Josephine Wilkinson's book Richard the
> Young King to Be when the question I had asked myself, why two
> volumes, was answered, as each and every saint whose name was given
> to a scion of the House of York was given a full history. What this
> has to do with why Richard Plantagenet became the man he became is
> beyond me, and of little interest.
>
> I was sitting on the bus reading more of this book when the writer
> mentioned someone called Richard, and I had to ask myself who she was
> talking about as I had by then almost forgotten.
>
> Whereas Susan Higginbottom in her blog review says :-
>
> "though highly sympathetic to Richard, it avoided the romanticism of
> Paul Murray Kendall - no escaping with Anne to breathe the free air
> of the moors, for instance"
>
> what we do get though is stuff like this:-
> referring to our Richard after the news of Wakefield
>
> "that mocking crown would haunt him like a half-remembered nightmare,
> casting its dark shadow overhis waking thoughts and troubling his
> deepest dreams"
>
>
> "in the hushed , numbed days following the death of his father, as
> the winter snows buried the dead and the icy winds whispered to the
> living"
>
>
> The first suggests she knows what Richard was thinking, and what his
> dreams were about, and the second is just as fruity as anything
> Kendall wrote!
>
> And after the pages and pages on the lives of the saints of all the
> names given to Richard and his brothers and sisters, in chapter 4,
> straight after the death of the Duke of York, comes something that
> had me groaning out loud
>
> "Richard of York's choice of favourite saints is worth of comment".
>
>
> Another two bloody pages of the lives of the saints!
> And she keeps calling Queen Margaret 'Marguerite', so bloody
> pretentious, as well as annoying.
>
> I got to chapter 6 yesterday and began to like the book. That chapter
> is full of detail about Richard's childhood, his education, where he
> went, what he did, and his duties once created Duke of Gloucester. At
> last the book has focused on Richard I thought. Then discussion of
> King Edward's marriage began, and the author uses More as a reliable
> source for the king's appearance. She does say he was probably only 5
> or 6 when he died, but finds nothing wrong with saying his
> description of the King is valid. I now dread reading on.
>
> Paul
>
> Richard liveth yet
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Paul,

Pierce is just FASCINATING. She concentrates on Margaret's adult life after Bosworth, her marriage and probable sixth child, the Ursula-Henry Stafford marriage and the Pole Brothers' "plot" of 1536, together with her end.
I borrowed it from the library but it is on my Amazon wishlist,

Stephen.

--- In , "Stephen Lark" <stephenmlark@...> wrote:
>
> --- In , Paul Trevor Bale <paul.bale@> wrote:
> >
> > Amongst the many books out already, or about to come out, is a
> > biography of Margaret de la Pole by one Hazel Pierce. It's at Amazon
> > for UKP24.99.
> > Anyone read it yet?
> >
> > As for Josephine Wilkinson's book "Richard the young king to be":-
> >
> > I am struggling through it.
> > What do others think?
> >
> > My thoughts to date, up to around page 90, go like this:-
> >
> > I was less than 30 pages into Josephine Wilkinson's book Richard the
> > Young King to Be when the question I had asked myself, why two
> > volumes, was answered, as each and every saint whose name was given
> > to a scion of the House of York was given a full history. What this
> > has to do with why Richard Plantagenet became the man he became is
> > beyond me, and of little interest.
> >
> > I was sitting on the bus reading more of this book when the writer
> > mentioned someone called Richard, and I had to ask myself who she was
> > talking about as I had by then almost forgotten.
> >
> > Whereas Susan Higginbottom in her blog review says :-
> >
> > "though highly sympathetic to Richard, it avoided the romanticism of
> > Paul Murray Kendall - no escaping with Anne to breathe the free air
> > of the moors, for instance"
> >
> > what we do get though is stuff like this:-
> > referring to our Richard after the news of Wakefield
> >
> > "that mocking crown would haunt him like a half-remembered nightmare,
> > casting its dark shadow overhis waking thoughts and troubling his
> > deepest dreams"
> >
> >
> > "in the hushed , numbed days following the death of his father, as
> > the winter snows buried the dead and the icy winds whispered to the
> > living"
> >
> >
> > The first suggests she knows what Richard was thinking, and what his
> > dreams were about, and the second is just as fruity as anything
> > Kendall wrote!
> >
> > And after the pages and pages on the lives of the saints of all the
> > names given to Richard and his brothers and sisters, in chapter 4,
> > straight after the death of the Duke of York, comes something that
> > had me groaning out loud
> >
> > "Richard of York's choice of favourite saints is worth of comment".
> >
> >
> > Another two bloody pages of the lives of the saints!
> > And she keeps calling Queen Margaret 'Marguerite', so bloody
> > pretentious, as well as annoying.
> >
> > I got to chapter 6 yesterday and began to like the book. That chapter
> > is full of detail about Richard's childhood, his education, where he
> > went, what he did, and his duties once created Duke of Gloucester. At
> > last the book has focused on Richard I thought. Then discussion of
> > King Edward's marriage began, and the author uses More as a reliable
> > source for the king's appearance. She does say he was probably only 5
> > or 6 when he died, but finds nothing wrong with saying his
> > description of the King is valid. I now dread reading on.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > Richard liveth yet
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Paul,
>
> Pierce is just FASCINATING. She concentrates on Margaret's adult life after Bosworth, her marriage and probable sixth child, the Ursula-Henry Stafford marriage and the Pole Brothers' "plot" of 1536, together with her end.
> I borrowed it from the library but it is on my Amazon wishlist,
>
> Stephen.
>
PS "de la Pole", indeed! Sorry I didn't correct you last night;)

Sounds worth getting hold of. Thanks Stephen.
Paul


On 13 Mar 2009, at 09:00, Stephen Lark wrote:

>> Pierce is just FASCINATING. She concentrates on Margaret's adult
>> life after Bosworth, her marriage and probable sixth child, the
>> Ursula-Henry Stafford marriage and the Pole Brothers' "plot" of
>> 1536, together with her end.
>> I borrowed it from the library but it is on my Amazon wishlist

Richard liveth yet