The New Murrey and Blue blog

I have written recently about Jo Harkin’s new book, The Pretender, (https://murreyandblue.co.uk/2025/05/05/the-pretender-takes-the-same-old-attitude-to-richard-iii/) which tells the story of Lambert Simnel, who claimed to be Edward, Earl of Warwick, for whom the Yorkists fought (and lost) the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487. You can read about the earl here https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_25.html. And about Lambert Simnel here https://richardiii.net/faqs/richard-and-his-world/aftermath/lambert-simnel-and-the-king-from-dublin/ .

My previous impression of The Pretender was that it didn’t do Richard III many favours, which damned it in my eyes immediately. I don’t want to read something that’s going to make me mad as a box of frogs on a bad day. Now there is a review of it in The Times, which you can read here https://tinyurl.com/u4u39twj.

The book gets the thumbs up:- “…. The novel shifts from raunchy to funny to bleak to disturbing, and certainly works as a page turner. It brings a new and lively dimension to an old and venerable genre, sweeping away any cobwebs and raising fascinating questions….”

But apart from mentioning that the hero is supposed to be the nephew of Richard III, there is no further mention of Richard. And the language used in the book—“a mixture of cod-Medieval and robust modern English”—is singled out as being a little distracting. This isn’t the first time the language has been remarked upon, but as I haven’t read the book, I cannot comment.

by viscountessw