A Rose for the Crown

A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith is one of the best books I have ever read. It is an incredible accomplishment. The storyline (with lots of embellishments) is simple. Girl meets boy, they make whoopee, girl loses boy. Despite this, the book is far from simple. I grew up learning that King Richard III of England, the male protagonist, was a misshapen monster who killed two helpless princes while they were incarcerated in the Tower of London. The author's mission is to disprove this Tudor perpetrated version of history. Sharon Kay Penman in The Sunne in Splendour sowed seeds of doubt but did not convince me. Smith has almost turned me into a believer. Aside from writing revisionist history, Smith is splendid novelist. Most of the characters in the book, including the protagonists, actually lived. Smith fills in missing information with delightful, period true imagination. The aspect of the book I liked best was Smith's creation of the world as it existed for her characters. With meticulous detail, she describes various kinds of dwellings (farm cottage, merchant's quarters, castles). She describes everyday food of different classes and the extravagant banquets of the aristocracy. Clothing is also described. I always wondered how the men held up the tights they wore. Richard III enlightens us when he dresses following a torrid love scene. Questions about the cone like hats women wore were also answered. Little details fascinated me. For example, when one character made a deep bow, a louse fell out of his hair. No one is surprised. Most details are not unpleasant. Smith describes fish farming by castle ponds that, in future, became purely ornamental. She tells us what grew in various kinds of gardens and fields. We are introduced to 15th century ambient smells and sounds. Finally, the rhythm of the book seems to reflect the experience of time in the 15th century. It meanders slowly. The exchange of letters takes weeks. News arrives weeks after events have taken place. Into the lazy meander cuts death - often sudden, violent, shocking. Death arrives in long, poorly understood sickness, sudden illness accident, and war. Smith ambitiously tackles social relationships between 15th century people. She depicts relations between classes as much less rigid than I had supposed. But the barrier of heredity prevents lower classes from moving into the aristocracy. She depicts many relationships between men and women. When love and friendship exist between a man and woman, male characters relax the demeaning and limiting rules of female behavior. When there is no love, the rules are an excuse for terrible cruelty. Children are loved and petted, easily sent to live with strangers, and sometimes abused. Religion permeates everyone's life. Usually it is casual and perfunctory. Occasionally it is extremely serious. Although I adored this book, I had two problems with it (nobody is perfect). First, Smith left me confu

What a spectacular first book! I have read many books from this era and this is going in a special place in my collection. It sits now among the "most favored" books. Her descriptions of day-to-day life are more vivid, researched and realistic than almost any author I have read dealing with this period. Anny really brings this period to life! I have NEVER cried so much and so hard during a book! I truly feel I have lost dear friends as the book is now "over." Stick through the first few chapters with the old english style of speaking, as it becomes much clearer and easier to read as time goes on. You will LOVE this book!

If you're seeking "Best of Class" Ricardian Fiction, look no further. Anne Easter Smith has crafted a highly absorbing and intriguing story, relating Richard III's life through the eyes of his mistress. We know for a fact that Richard fathered two children before he married Anne Neville, very possibly three. Smith has created one mother for all, reflecting Richard's primary life goal - loyalty. Kate Bywood meets Richard when very young, and they form a bond that lasts for life, intertwining with Richard's cycles of high fortune and great tribulation. But there's much more to it than that - Kate is a superbly well drawn character. Believable, indomitable, highly relatable, and most of all, very human. She stands on her own - far from simply a conduit for Richard's story. Background research is thorough and impeccable. I learned a great deal about the lives of 15th. Century women, including fascinating aspects like herbal remedies. Historical facts and continuity are right-on-the-money accurate. Smith's choice of Jack Howard (unwavering Yorkist - named Duke of Norfolk by Richard) as a major character is both innovative and informative. Howard was always in Richard's inner circle, and this is the first time I've read a novel that's explored that connection. In summary - if you want a great Ricardian read, this is not to be missed. Right up there with "The Sunne in Splendour". Smith's passion shines through on every page. She is now developing a novel about the life of one of Richard's sisters, Margaret of York. I can't wait!!

A Rose for the Crown begins with Kate Bywood as a young, outspoken girl who attracts the attention of a well-off relative and is taken into his home as a companion for his mousy daughter. Through many twists and turns, young Kate is married twice and becomes friends with Margaret and John Howard, later to be the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk. Through them, she is introduced to Richard of Gloucester, the future King Richard the Third. A love affair ensues that brings Kate into the circles of royalty and intrigue and ultimately heartbreak. I wasn't sure at first if I was going to like this novel, as it spends a great deal of time establishing Kate's early life before she meets Richard. In fact, much of that could have been cut in order to get to the heart of the story, the relationship between Kate and Richard. It is from this point that the story takes off and doesn't let go. The author spent a lot of time researching her subjects and is able to seamlessly weave historical characters and situations into her fabricated world. While both Richard and Kate are very young at the time of their relationship, Smith brings them to life and makes us ache with longing for them to remain together. Smith has accomplished that rarest of tasks: she has taken the known facts and embellished them into a believable, tantalizing tale. I especially appreciated her author's notes at the end that established how she obtained her material and why she developed the story as she did. While a bit slow in the beginning, this book is a wonderful tale of love and intrigue. The author's style developed substantially over the course of the book and she did a fine job of creating the tale of Richard and the mother of his bastard children. Recommended reading for those who enjoy historical fiction.

Ms. Smith is clearly an avid lover of English history. She says that at some time she became fascinated with the story of Richard III who was portrayed as quite a villain by Shakespeare. Her answer, a lot more complex than what most of us would do is to write this historical epic that portrays him in an entirely different light. In this book the story is told by a woman who is Richard's mistress and mother of his three illegitimate children. (I'm not going to go into the whole story, if you want to read about the story itself, visit the authors web page at www.anneeastersmith.com ) Instead what you have in this book is a well researched book on the character and the time. The book is factually grounded in so far as the story of Richard's life is concerned. Even more, in good fiction of this type you get a better feeling of what life was like in those times when compared to reading a standard history of the time. At the end you still have to wonder if Richard killed those princes in the Tower.