The Sunne in Splendour in Q&A with Sharon Kay

Aug 20, 2008 Misfit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-and-keep-for-a-reread, wars-of-the-roses, historical-fiction

This was a wonderful story. Although I was prepared to keep an open mind as to my previous opinions on Richard III (from reading Alison Weir's Princes in the Tower), I was sure I would still come out believing that Richard did the kids. Now I am not so convinced, I am prepared to believe he was a good man. This book also covers much about Edward the IV, Richard's brother. All in all a very good history lesson.

The book was well written, the story line kept me interested through all 900 + pages a ...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Gisela Kretzschmar rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favourites

From the very first pages into this book, I found myself liking the young Richard, and I wondered, "How in the heck can this be the same boy who will grow up to murder his own nephews?" A fiercely loyal and earnest lad, he is the youngest of his family, small, dark and intense and very different from his three tall and fair brothers. He is Richard Plantagenet, who, as King Richard III, will go down in history as the epitome of evil, a murderous usurper.

Murderer he wasn't, claims Sharon Penman. From the very first pages into this book, I found myself liking the young Richard, and I wondered, "How in the heck can this be the same boy who will grow up to murder his own nephews?" A fiercely loyal and earnest lad, he is the youngest of his family, small, dark and intense and very different from his three tall and fair brothers. He is Richard Plantagenet, who, as King Richard III, will go down in history as the epitome of evil, a murderous usurper.

Murderer he wasn't, claims Sharon Penman. Believable and compelling, the story of the four sons of Richard, Duke of York unfolds with all the relentlessness and inescapability of a Greek tragedy.

Although far from being the monster More and Shakespeare described, Richard is shown partly responsible for his nephews' fate. In Penman’s version he does not order their killing, but he fails to realize that by his taking the throne the children become pawns in other people's power games and pay for his thoughtlessness with their lives. Sharon Penman's explanation of the princes' disappearance and Richard's strange silence is as good and plausible as others. Her Richard is brave and loyal, but he can also be aloof and stubborn to the point of inflexibility. He can display subtle irony, but also biting wit, and is capable of considerable aggression, yet lacks the ultimate ruthlessness to secure his power. Reflecting upon his decision makes him admit his guilt - that he yielded to the temptation the Crown of England represented - and for the last months of his life he does feel bitter remorse.

Richard was born on the brink of the Modern Age and grew up in a world that witnessed the death throes of the medieval system of values, and yet, at a time when all conventional notions of loyalty and feudal allegiance had become a sham, he cherished a core of chivalrous conduct that is very appealing, apparent for example in his just administration of the North and his legislation as King - supporting the weak as demanded by the knightly code of conduct. Richard's physical courage, praised even by his detractors, originates in his chivalrous ideals, and his last ferocious charge down Ambion Hill to challenge Henry Tudor to single combat evokes heroic tales of earlier centuries.

"The Sunne in Splendour" is a magnificent book. Intimate family scenes alternate with bloody battles, scenarios of betrayal and murder are followed by tender love scenes. We meet a host of unforgettable characters – lovable Edmund, the first of the four Plantagenet princes to die; proud foolish Warwick and his tragic brother John Neville; the icily beautiful Elizabeth Woodville, Edward's queen; Bishop Morton, the snake in the grass; sweet-natured Elizabeth of York and Richard's dignified mother Cecily. All of them are complex, and stay with the reader for a long time.

Richard III died at thirty-two, his reign cut short by rebellion and treason. Sharon Penman brings him gloriously back to life. The great achievement of this book is to show that there was nobility in Richard's cause as well as in his failure. ...more

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Oct 18, 2008 Barb rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction-medieval, richard-3rd-princes, on-the-keeper-shelf, favorites, hf-1154-1485-plantangenet, favs-of-2008, read-in-2008

This is the first book by Sharon Kay Penman that I've read and I have to say that I'm very impressed. Penman does an amazing job of laying before the reader the tangled web of deceit that surrounded the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III in way that makes it easy to understand.

This is the story of The War of the Roses and the life of Richard III. We follow Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, 'Dickon', as his family calls him, through the deaths of his father and brother, the rise of his b ...more

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Jun 06, 2008 Sara W rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-w-book-club, i-own-these-books, fiction

I didn't know whether to give this book 4 or 5 stars. My main issue was the length of the book - it was so long! It was an excellent book though, so I didn't want to drop a star just because of the length. Normally I don't have a problem with long books, but I've been tackling a couple of them recently, so I kind of want one that I can fly through in a week! The detail in the book was incredible, and the author brought forth a theory about the Little Princes in the Tower that I had not heard bef ...more

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Jul 12, 2007 Darkpool rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: richard-iii, myr3collection, favourites, i-own-it, read-long-ago-80s

Sigh. What can I say. The start of my Richard III interest (although 'interest' is far too vanilla a word, and anything else makes me sound like a nutter). Well written, very well researched, and still with the power to make me cry. Fantastic. ...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Mandy Moody rated it really liked it

Shelves: i-own, historical-fiction, english-royalty

I may have gone into this one with expectations that were a tad high.
I was expecting it to be another Here Be Dragons (my favorite SKP book) and it just...wasn't.
Overall, The Sunne in Splendour was a good book. But (for me) it wasn't as good as it could have been.
I thought the portrayal of the Woodvilles - especially Queen Elizabeth - was very one sided and superficial. The idea that Elizabeth was a greedy bitch and all of her relatives were grasping and ambitious seemed the easy way out to me. ...more

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Apr 02, 2009 Robin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, medieval, england, richard-iii, war-of-the-roses

There are very few books I give 5 stars to but this deserved it. I really, really enjoyed this portrayal of Richard's life. While I never bought into the whole Shakespearean image of an evil hunchback (he was after all, playing for a Tudor Queen!) I never knew that much about him. I'm glad I burnt myself out on the Tudors for now and have moved back in time to the War of the Roses and even further back.

I really felt sorry for Richard through out the novel. It certainly seems like he was a good ...more

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Sep 15, 2007 Cathie rated it it was amazing

I recently was noticed that Sunne in Splendour has been contracted for a movie with Sharon Kay Penman. It will be interesting to see who they end up playing the roles. I believe this is the first book that portrayed Richard III in a favorable role and I truly enjoyed reading this book. It actually focuses on the story of Edward IV more than Richard III, but Richard is in the story throughout.

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