Book Reviews
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… you wait over a year for a new book from John Ashdown-Hill and two turn up almost together: Cecily Neville (left) on 30 April and those “Princes” on 15 July, with another volume on Elizabeth Wydeville to follow …
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Strange Times by Joan Szechtman
“Strange Times”, Discovering Diamonds, Edward V, engineering, Francis Viscount Lovell, Henry VII, Joan Szechtman, Loyalty Binds Me, Minster Lovell Hall, Paul Murray Kendall, Ricardian fiction, Richard III, Richard III Society, Richard of Shrewsbury, Science, sequels, Sharon Kay Penman, Stoke Field, The Sunne in Splendour, This Time, time travelToday, we interview Joan Szechtman, an American writer who has just published her third time-travel novel about King Richard the Third. Fans of Joan have read her books, THIS TIME, which was published in 2009 and LOYALTY BINDS ME which was published in 2011. Her third Richard the Third novel, STRANGE TIMES, has just been…
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The above book, Stolen Women in Medieval England, by Caroline Dunn, is subtitled Rape, Abduction and Adultery 1100-1500. This subtitle is well earned, because all three activities become very tangled indeed in those records that survive of cases that reached courts. The general impression the modern world has of medieval women is that they were…
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I have been asked for an opinion about Dan Jones and the Templars, and so have delved around for an impression of Jones’ thoughts on the subject. I know nothing about him, and so started from scratch, so to speak. What follows is an assessment from someone who was considering acquiring the book. A YouTube…
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Carol’s support for King Richard has led her to write this book about his childhood. In the spring there will be another book, following his life until the fateful Battle of Bosworth on 22nd August, 1485. I hope both titles do really well for her, and that she will find another aspect of Richard, or…
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Most people, even if they haven’t read/tried to read, the ancient British poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, will at least know the opening scene. It’s Christmas at Camelot, and King Arthur and his knights are enjoying themselves, feasting and celebrating, when into the hall rides a huge knight who carries a sprig of holly.…
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This post harks back to a previous one of 5th November 2014. Both concern the similarities between the lives and deaths of Richard II and Richard III, but I have now come upon a passage in a book that is actually about Richard II, but much of which could be applied to Richard III. The book…
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This fascinating book follows the life and career of the medieval King Edward IV’s personal doctor, brings to life so much of the era and in particular explains the medical knowledge, practices and advances of the times. Many commonly believed myths and mistakes regarding historical events and characters are covered and smoothed over with clarity…
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There is a new Ricardian children’s author on the block: Alex Marchant. Alex kindly agreed to an interview: Q: You’ve recently published your first novel about King Richard III for children, The Order of the White Boar. What made you write about King Richard? Alex: I first became interested in King Richard in my teens…
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“Matthew Ward is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow, researching “The Culture of Loyalty in Fifteenth-Century England.” The project constitutes the first major attempt to define and understand political loyalty to the crown and secular lords in England, 1400-1500: how it was manifested; how it developed and how it was discussed in political and…
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