The Rose of York: Fall from Grace
Sandra Worth
End Table Books
ISBN 0-9751264-9-0

If you’re like me, you find British history confusing. Too many Richards and Henrys and people with too many aliases—The Duke of Wherever, who’s also known as Henry Something Else, but called Hal by his friends, who’s married to the Duchess of Wherever, but her name turns out to be something completely different, besides which, she goes by Lady Third Name. To top it all off, my knowledge of Richard of York was limited to what little bit I knew from Shakespeare—he was a nasty sort who murdered two boys in a tower.

Well, was I set straight! Although there is an abundance of Richards and Henrys (there’s no getting around that), Worth’s history of Richard of York is told mostly from the eyes of the women in Richard’s life—and a charming fellow he is, too. He might not even have killed the two kids. He established laws that we still (more or less) hold dear, and the theory that people are innocent until proven guilty.

And Worth gives us a Richard worthy of a romance, without resorting to making up history. She’s honest about the tough life people—particularly women—led in the fifteenth century, without glamorizing it and skimping on details. Her dialogues are obviously fictional but the facts upon which she bases them are evident from the years of research she has indulged herself in, and justifiably so.

If you’ve ever wanted to get an easy-to-handle British history that finally doesn’t overly confuse you, and one that might open your eyes to a different version of history, this is definitely a series you need to read.

Reviewed by Ann Beardsley, Scribes World

Available from Amazon.com.

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