Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

A page has been added to r3.org - in the public area - of a list of Ricardian fiction books - most are available to members through our fiction library.
Any additions or suggestions - please let me know.
Regards

--
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Lisa wrote :

"A page has been added to r3.org - in the public area - of a list of Ricardian fiction books - most are available to members through our fiction library. Any additions or suggestions - please let me know."
Carol responds:

Do Kindle books count? I just read an entertaining (if improbable) historical thriller called "The Plantagenet Vendetta" by John Paul Davis, available from Amazon for $1.49: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HV7NY5I?ref_=smi_ge_rl_btns4_setch&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&ie=UTF8&pldnNew=1&pldnSite=1 I don't know what that converts to in British currency (about a pound, at a guess--not much, anyway) or whether it's available from Amazon UK.

A one-line blurb might be: "The Sons of York, a secret organization whose chief members are nicknamed the Cat, the Rat, the Dog, and the Hog, plots against the House of Winchester, descended from the Tudor usurper Henry VII."

I won't tell you the plot, but the fictional House of Winchester, except for being descended from Tudor and largely German rather than English thanks to the four Georges, bears no resemblance to the real House of Windsor, which makes it necessary to apply Coleridge's willing suspension of disbelief throughout the story. Some of the main characters are likeable and there are several mysteries besides what "really" happened to the "Princes," so there's an element of suspense throughout. The book is set in the present, that is, 2013 or 2014 since the skeleton of Richard III has recently been discovered, and the overall treatment of Richard is quite favorable (if you accept his having not two but five illegitimate children and his making Richard Duke of York his heir, as we discover in the first few pages).

The author makes a few errors (for example, Titulus Regius is Richard's *only* piece of legislation, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland is Edward's *older* brother. More significant (to me), he has Mancini and Croyland declare definitively that both nephews were killed. (Actually, of course, both report only a rumor, and in Mancini's version, it involves only Edward, the older brother, not Richard.)

That aside, if you have some free time and like historical thrillers, you might enjoy this one, which has an omniscient narrator and consequently provides multiple points of view. (The main characters are a young female production assistant and the son of the current Duke of Clarence, who, of course, is named George.)

Carol

Hi Carol. I can tell you enjoyed this book, which sounds...novel! My question is, just how much did the mistakes grate on you? Or was the suspension of disbelief really effective? My usual reaction to glaring bloopers, especially about Richard, is to throw the book across the room. Or, in this case, your Kindle. But you didn't, and I trust your judgement. So I think the story and writing must be very good indeed? Sandra =^..^= From: justcarol67@... Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 4:25 PM To: Subject: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

Lisa wrote :
"A page has been added to r3.org - in the public area - of a list of Ricardian fiction books - most are available to members through our fiction library. Any additions or suggestions - please let me know." Carol responds:

Do Kindle books count? I just read an entertaining (if improbable) historical thriller called "The Plantagenet Vendetta" by John Paul Davis, available from Amazon for $1.49: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HV7NY5I?ref_=smi_ge_rl_btns4_setch&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&ie=UTF8&pldnNew=1&pldnSite=1 I don't know what that converts to in British currency (about a pound, at a guess--not much, anyway) or whether it's available from Amazon UK.

A one-line blurb might be: "The Sons of York, a secret organization whose chief members are nicknamed the Cat, the Rat, the Dog, and the Hog, plots against the House of Winchester, descended from the Tudor usurper Henry VII."

I won't tell you the plot, but the fictional House of Winchester, except for being descended from Tudor and largely German rather than English thanks to the four Georges, bears no resemblance to the real House of Windsor, which makes it necessary to apply Coleridge's willing suspension of disbelief throughout the story. Some of the main characters are likeable and there are several mysteries besides what "really" happened to the "Princes," so there's an element of suspense throughout. The book is set in the present, that is, 2013 or 2014 since the skeleton of Richard III has recently been discovered, and the overall treatment of Richard is quite favorable (if you accept his having not two but five illegitimate children and his making Richard Duke of York his heir, as we discover in the first few pages).

The author makes a few errors (for example, Titulus Regius is Richard's *only* piece of legislation, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland is Edward's *older* brother. More significant (to me), he has Mancini and Croyland declare definitively that both nephews were killed. (Actually, of course, both report only a rumor, and in Mancini's version, it involves only Edward, the older brother, not Richard.)

That aside, if you have some free time and like historical thrillers, you might enjoy this one, which has an omniscient narrator and consequently provides multiple points of view. (The main characters are a young female production assistant and the son of the current Duke of Clarence, who, of course, is named George.)

Carol

Sandra wrote :


"Hi Carol. I can tell you enjoyed this book, which sounds...novel! My question is, just how much did the mistakes grate on you? Or was the suspension of disbelief really effective? My usual reaction to glaring bloopers, especially about Richard, is to throw the book across the room. Or, in this case, your Kindle. But you didn't, and I trust your judgement. So I think the story and writing must be very good indeed?" Carol responds:

Hi, Sandra. "Very good indeed" is probably praising it too highly. I'll just say that it was fun--in the sense that murder mysteries are fun--and the errors weren't as frequent or grating as those of many Ricardian writers, probably because all chapters except the prologue and one flashback to the 1990s, are set in the present. Irritatingly, he does say in the epilogue that the bones in the urn are probably those of the "princes" and that Richard is the most likely candidate (completely at odds with the main story), but he does present the alternative candidates for the supposed murder, including Margaret Beaufort. He repeats in the epilogue (irritatingly) that TR was the only Act of Parliament in Richard's reign. His bibliography (actually "further reading") ranges from Annette Carson to Alison Weir. On the plus side, he points out that the raised shoulder is the only element of truth in the hunchback myth, as shown by the archaeologists' analysis of Richard's skeleton.

If these things (minus the last) don't bother you (and you're prepared for the present king of England to be Stephen II of the House of Winchester whose father was recently murdered by the Sons of York), I'd give the book a try. (You can't beat the price.) On the other hand, if you're looking for historical fiction focused primarily on Richard with no errors and no doubts about his innocence, I'd look elsewhere.

Carol

Carol, I'm afraid Richard has to be the good guy through and through for me. I'm a hopeless case. Beyond redemption. If it had been set around the modern-day Sons of Curtmantle, Richie, Geoff, John-boy and Willy, I'd give it a shot. But Richard as a possible nephew-murderer? No way. But I did love the way you described the book's setting and so on. Thank you. Sandra =^..^= From: justcarol67@... Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 8:58 PM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

Sandra wrote :
"Hi Carol. I can tell you enjoyed this book, which sounds...novel! My question is, just how much did the mistakes grate on you? Or was the suspension of disbelief really effective? My usual reaction to glaring bloopers, especially about Richard, is to throw the book across the room. Or, in this case, your Kindle. But you didn't, and I trust your judgement. So I think the story and writing must be very good indeed?" Carol responds:

Hi, Sandra. "Very good indeed" is probably praising it too highly. I'll just say that it was fun--in the sense that murder mysteries are fun--and the errors weren't as frequent or grating as those of many Ricardian writers, probably because all chapters except the prologue and one flashback to the 1990s, are set in the present. Irritatingly, he does say in the epilogue that the bones in the urn are probably those of the "princes" and that Richard is the most likely candidate (completely at odds with the main story), but he does present the alternative candidates for the supposed murder, including Margaret Beaufort. He repeats in the epilogue (irritatingly) that TR was the only Act of Parliament in Richard's reign. His bibliography (actually "further reading") ranges from Annette Carson to Alison Weir. On the plus side, he points out that the raised shoulder is the only element of truth in the hunchback myth, as shown by the archaeologists' analysis of Richard's skeleton.

If these things (minus the last) don't bother you (and you're prepared for the present king of England to be Stephen II of the House of Winchester whose father was recently murdered by the Sons of York), I'd give the book a try. (You can't beat the price.) On the other hand, if you're looking for historical fiction focused primarily on Richard with no errors and no doubts about his innocence, I'd look elsewhere.

Carol

Sandra wrote :


"Carol, I'm afraid Richard has to be the good guy through and through for me. I'm a hopeless case. Beyond redemption. If it had been set around the modern-day Sons of Curtmantle, Richie, Geoff, John-boy and Willy, I'd give it a shot. But Richard as a possible nephew-murderer? No way. But I did love the way you described the book's setting and so on. Thank you." Carol responds:

He *is* a good guy in the novel. It's only in the epilogue or appendices (misleadingly called "The Facts behind My Novel") where his doubts surface. You can always skip that section given that you undoubtedly know more than he does about Richard. But I understand your reservations. My idea of a good Ricardian novel is one that's well-written, well-researched and historically accurate, believable, favorable to Richard without sentimentalizing him or turning him into a saint, holds my interest throughout, and makes me both laugh and cry. By those standards, this book would be a B minus/C plus on an American grade scale, or about a six or seven on a scale of one to ten (assuming that you're looking for light reading--somewhat lower if you're looking for the Real Richard and believable fictionalized history.

Speaking of which, I've gleaned a few titles from the list of Ricardian fiction on the American website that appear worth reading based on a cursory description (including some detective story types that try to investigate Richard's life and character, mostly whether he killed his nephews). Is anyone familiar with any of the following books, and, if so, would you recommend them, knowing what I'm looking for? (I know we need to read nonfiction books written from all viewpoints to try to find the truth, but that doesn't apply to fiction: I'm looking for novels that I can enjoy and believe as I read them!)

Anyway, here's the list I've come up with (pardon font changes and absence of italics):

Barlowe, Raleigh Bruce, The Blackening of Richard III.

Doherty, P.C., The Fate of Princes

Farrington, Robert, The Killing of Richard III, Tudor Agent, and Traitors of Bosworth (the second only because it's part of the series)

Hocking, Mary, He Who Plays the King

Hogg, Richard Mark, Loyalty in Me Lieth

Irwin, Frances, Summer's End

MacLachlan, Donald, The Adventure of the Bloody Tower

Price, Margaret W., The White Boar and the Red Dragon

Spann, Clapton, Lord Protector

Unwin, Richard, A Wilderness of Sea: The Rise of Richard III (Laurence the Armourer, Vol 2)

Viney, Jane, King Richard's Friend

Wensby-Scott, Carol, Lion Invincible

Are any of these any good? I'm omitting books I've already read that are also on the list, including Sunne in Splendour, Broken Sword, and We Speak No Treason.

Carol

.

I read this one too--it's really an entertaining alt-history potboiler in the vein of Da Vinci Code and Clive Cussler's novels. Little about R3 who's only a minor plot device, but the non-ugly, non-monster version of him is, I'm starting to think, now the "conventional" view in pop lit? Anyway it's interesting indeed that the author felt compelled to backpedal in his notes. Was he worried people wouldn't take him seriously?I've read enough Ricardian and related fiction by now to appreciate works that take a different angle the well-known. Two recent books I enjoyed recently and can recommend or at least suggest are Isolde Martyn's "Devil in Ermine"--Buckingham's point of view--and Juliet Waldron's "Roan Rose"--a peasant woman, herself belonging to a long folk tradition, whose life becomes by happenstance entwined with Richard and Anne.And Sandra-- I've added "Cicely" to my ever-growing Amazon wish list! (I did find it now on the US Amazon).
Anne

Thank you, Anne. My book is certainly from a different angle and portrays Richard very sympathetically, even as he finally strays from the straight and narrow. He'll be Cicely's only truly great love for the rest of her life. And in the second book, Cicely's Second King, out in July, it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before. At least, I hope you haven't, because I'd like to be the first to portray him this way. If another writer got there first, please don't tell me. I wouldn't know what anyone else has done because I don't read fiction. I did when young, but not know, for fear of being influenced. My joint favourite novel of all time is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, which I read when it was first published in 1969. The other joint' favourites are Mary Stewart's Merlin books, but the book that hooked me on Richard was, of course, Tey's Daughter of Time. OK, out of date now, but it riveted me with interest in our astonishing but tragic king. Richard was my inspiration to start writing, and he still is. An amazing man, charismatic through the centuries. There, that was more than anyone wanted to know! <g> Sandra =^..^= From: friedaofalsace@... Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:19 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

I read this one too--it's really an entertaining alt-history potboiler in the vein of Da Vinci Code and Clive Cussler's novels. Little about R3 who's only a minor plot device, but the non-ugly, non-monster version of him is, I'm starting to think, now the "conventional" view in pop lit? Anyway it's interesting indeed that the author felt compelled to backpedal in his notes. Was he worried people wouldn't take him seriously? I've read enough Ricardian and related fiction by now to appreciate works that take a different angle the well-known. Two recent books I enjoyed recently and can recommend or at least suggest are Isolde Martyn's "Devil in Ermine"--Buckingham's point of view--and Juliet Waldron's "Roan Rose"--a peasant woman, herself belonging to a long folk tradition, whose life becomes by happenstance entwined with Richard and Anne. And Sandra-- I've added "Cicely" to my ever-growing Amazon wish list! (I did find it now on the US Amazon). Anne

From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

> it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before
The mind boggles at that. It suggests the kind of radical new context you'd associate with Ian McKellen playing Widow Twankey, or Glenda Jackson on Morecambe & Wise...
(And now I can't get rid of the image of a be-sequinned Henry VII doing panto at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. "They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian! Well, they're not laughing now...")

Jonathan
From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

Thank you, Anne. My book is certainly from a different angle and portrays Richard very sympathetically, even as he finally strays from the straight and narrow. He'll be Cicely's only truly great love for the rest of her life. And in the second book, Cicely's Second King, out in July, it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before. At least, I hope you haven't, because I'd like to be the first to portray him this way. If another writer got there first, please don't tell me. I wouldn't know what anyone else has done because I don't read fiction. I did when young, but not know, for fear of being influenced. My joint favourite novel of all time is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, which I read when it was first published in 1969. The other joint' favourites are Mary Stewart's Merlin books, but the book that hooked me on Richard was, of course, Tey's Daughter of Time. OK, out of date now, but it riveted me with interest in our astonishing but tragic king. Richard was my inspiration to start writing, and he still is. An amazing man, charismatic through the centuries. There, that was more than anyone wanted to know! <g> Sandra =^..^= From: friedaofalsace@... Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:19 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ... I read this one too--it's really an entertaining alt-history potboiler in the vein of Da Vinci Code and Clive Cussler's novels. Little about R3 who's only a minor plot device, but the non-ugly, non-monster version of him is, I'm starting to think, now the "conventional" view in pop lit? Anyway it's interesting indeed that the author felt compelled to backpedal in his notes. Was he worried people wouldn't take him seriously? I've read enough Ricardian and related fiction by now to appreciate works that take a different angle the well-known. Two recent books I enjoyed recently and can recommend or at least suggest are Isolde Martyn's "Devil in Ermine"--Buckingham's point of view--and Juliet Waldron's "Roan Rose"--a peasant woman, herself belonging to a long folk tradition, whose life becomes by happenstance entwined with Richard and Anne. And Sandra-- I've added "Cicely" to my ever-growing Amazon wish list! (I did find it now on the US Amazon). Anne

Thank you, Jonathan, now I have the same image. And he, not the audience, would be the one shouting Look behind you! Sandra =^..^= From: Jonathan Evans Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 11:00 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

> it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before
The mind boggles at that. It suggests the kind of radical new context you'd associate with Ian McKellen playing Widow Twankey, or Glenda Jackson on Morecambe & Wise... (And now I can't get rid of the image of a be-sequinned Henry VII doing panto at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. "They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian! Well, they're not laughing now...")
Jonathan From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...
Thank you, Anne. My book is certainly from a different angle and portrays Richard very sympathetically, even as he finally strays from the straight and narrow. He'll be Cicely's only truly great love for the rest of her life. And in the second book, Cicely's Second King, out in July, it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before. At least, I hope you haven't, because I'd like to be the first to portray him this way. If another writer got there first, please don't tell me. I wouldn't know what anyone else has done because I don't read fiction. I did when young, but not know, for fear of being influenced. My joint favourite novel of all time is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, which I read when it was first published in 1969. The other joint' favourites are Mary Stewart's Merlin books, but the book that hooked me on Richard was, of course, Tey's Daughter of Time. OK, out of date now, but it riveted me with interest in our astonishing but tragic king. Richard was my inspiration to start writing, and he still is. An amazing man, charismatic through the centuries. There, that was more than anyone wanted to know! <g> Sandra =^..^= From: friedaofalsace@... Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:19 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ... I read this one too--it's really an entertaining alt-history potboiler in the vein of Da Vinci Code and Clive Cussler's novels. Little about R3 who's only a minor plot device, but the non-ugly, non-monster version of him is, I'm starting to think, now the "conventional" view in pop lit? Anyway it's interesting indeed that the author felt compelled to backpedal in his notes. Was he worried people wouldn't take him seriously? I've read enough Ricardian and related fiction by now to appreciate works that take a different angle the well-known. Two recent books I enjoyed recently and can recommend or at least suggest are Isolde Martyn's "Devil in Ermine"--Buckingham's point of view--and Juliet Waldron's "Roan Rose"--a peasant woman, herself belonging to a long folk tradition, whose life becomes by happenstance entwined with Richard and Anne. And Sandra-- I've added "Cicely" to my ever-growing Amazon wish list! (I did find it now on the US Amazon). Anne

Henry: I'm the King of England!
Audience: Oh no you're not!!!
(Retreating in the face of an onslaught of rotten fruit and hazelnut shells, Henry gets tangled in the front-cloth and is trampled beneath the pantomime horse.)
Jonathan

From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 11:21
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

Thank you, Jonathan, now I have the same image. And he, not the audience, would be the one shouting Look behind you! Sandra =^..^= From: Jonathan Evans Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 11:00 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ... From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

> it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before
The mind boggles at that. It suggests the kind of radical new context you'd associate with Ian McKellen playing Widow Twankey, or Glenda Jackson on Morecambe & Wise... (And now I can't get rid of the image of a be-sequinned Henry VII doing panto at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. "They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian! Well, they're not laughing now...")
Jonathan From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...
Thank you, Anne. My book is certainly from a different angle and portrays Richard very sympathetically, even as he finally strays from the straight and narrow. He'll be Cicely's only truly great love for the rest of her life. And in the second book, Cicely's Second King, out in July, it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before. At least, I hope you haven't, because I'd like to be the first to portray him this way. If another writer got there first, please don't tell me. I wouldn't know what anyone else has done because I don't read fiction. I did when young, but not know, for fear of being influenced. My joint favourite novel of all time is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, which I read when it was first published in 1969. The other joint' favourites are Mary Stewart's Merlin books, but the book that hooked me on Richard was, of course, Tey's Daughter of Time. OK, out of date now, but it riveted me with interest in our astonishing but tragic king. Richard was my inspiration to start writing, and he still is. An amazing man, charismatic through the centuries. There, that was more than anyone wanted to know! <g> Sandra =^..^= From: friedaofalsace@... Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:19 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ... I read this one too--it's really an entertaining alt-history potboiler in the vein of Da Vinci Code and Clive Cussler's novels. Little about R3 who's only a minor plot device, but the non-ugly, non-monster version of him is, I'm starting to think, now the "conventional" view in pop lit? Anyway it's interesting indeed that the author felt compelled to backpedal in his notes. Was he worried people wouldn't take him seriously? I've read enough Ricardian and related fiction by now to appreciate works that take a different angle the well-known. Two recent books I enjoyed recently and can recommend or at least suggest are Isolde Martyn's "Devil in Ermine"--Buckingham's point of view--and Juliet Waldron's "Roan Rose"--a peasant woman, herself belonging to a long folk tradition, whose life becomes by happenstance entwined with Richard and Anne. And Sandra-- I've added "Cicely" to my ever-growing Amazon wish list! (I did find it now on the US Amazon). Anne

...from which terrible fate not even his lairy godmother, her husband, Baron Sly and his brother, Sir William Even-Slyer can rescue their golden goose. Curtain down to rapturous applause and a raucous rendition of Good King Richard, which completely drowns Henry's fading cries  A horse! A horse! My kingship screwed by a horse! We missed our vocation, Jonathan. But what a show it would have been. Sandra =^..^= From: Jonathan Evans Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 11:30 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

Henry: I'm the King of England!
Audience: Oh no you're not!!!
(Retreating in the face of an onslaught of rotten fruit and hazelnut shells, Henry gets tangled in the front-cloth and is trampled beneath the pantomime horse.)
Jonathan
From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 11:21
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...
Thank you, Jonathan, now I have the same image. And he, not the audience, would be the one shouting Look behind you! Sandra =^..^= From: Jonathan Evans Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 11:00 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ... From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...

> it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before
The mind boggles at that. It suggests the kind of radical new context you'd associate with Ian McKellen playing Widow Twankey, or Glenda Jackson on Morecambe & Wise... (And now I can't get rid of the image of a be-sequinned Henry VII doing panto at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. "They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian! Well, they're not laughing now...")
Jonathan From: SandraMachin <sandramachin@...>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 10:20
Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ...
Thank you, Anne. My book is certainly from a different angle and portrays Richard very sympathetically, even as he finally strays from the straight and narrow. He'll be Cicely's only truly great love for the rest of her life. And in the second book, Cicely's Second King, out in July, it's Henry VII as you've never seen him before. At least, I hope you haven't, because I'd like to be the first to portray him this way. If another writer got there first, please don't tell me. I wouldn't know what anyone else has done because I don't read fiction. I did when young, but not know, for fear of being influenced. My joint favourite novel of all time is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, which I read when it was first published in 1969. The other joint' favourites are Mary Stewart's Merlin books, but the book that hooked me on Richard was, of course, Tey's Daughter of Time. OK, out of date now, but it riveted me with interest in our astonishing but tragic king. Richard was my inspiration to start writing, and he still is. An amazing man, charismatic through the centuries. There, that was more than anyone wanted to know! <g> Sandra =^..^= From: friedaofalsace@... Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:19 AM To: Subject: Re: Re: Ricardian Recommended Reading ... I read this one too--it's really an entertaining alt-history potboiler in the vein of Da Vinci Code and Clive Cussler's novels. Little about R3 who's only a minor plot device, but the non-ugly, non-monster version of him is, I'm starting to think, now the "conventional" view in pop lit? Anyway it's interesting indeed that the author felt compelled to backpedal in his notes. Was he worried people wouldn't take him seriously? I've read enough Ricardian and related fiction by now to appreciate works that take a different angle the well-known. Two recent books I enjoyed recently and can recommend or at least suggest are Isolde Martyn's "Devil in Ermine"--Buckingham's point of view--and Juliet Waldron's "Roan Rose"--a peasant woman, herself belonging to a long folk tradition, whose life becomes by happenstance entwined with Richard and Anne. And Sandra-- I've added "Cicely" to my ever-growing Amazon wish list! (I did find it now on the US Amazon). Anne

Thank you Sandra and Jonathon I needed a good laugh. Oh if only it were true!!Mary