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The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
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Misfit
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Jan 09, 2009 09:52AM

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I read Kendall immediately afterward and had the same reaction since both Kendall and SKP deal with the same set of facts from much the same point of view.
Also, as soon as I forced myself to finish Penman I started at the beginning again. I did that three times before I could make myself stop compulsively reading this book. Thank goodness it is on my Kindle and I have copiously annotated it so that it is at my hand most of the time. (I am still adding notes, silly me!)
Did any of the rest of you have to read it again and again? Or find yourself hating to come to the tragic end?

I absolutely loved this book and will read again in the future. The ending at Bosworth, its so hard coming to the end of a book where you know the worst is going to happen. Same with Helen Hollick's Harold the King at the battle of Hastings.

Penman mentions eyes so much in this book. She reads emotions and meanings into eyes more than any other writer of my experience.
And this was Penman's first book! Did you know the trivia about the first draft being stolen out of a car and lost forever and she had to rewrite it?
Her dialogue is exceptional, especially in her latest, Devil's Brood. She has Henry II, Eleanor and Richard down cold. Fabulous book, and an excellent series.
Her dialogue is exceptional, especially in her latest, Devil's Brood. She has Henry II, Eleanor and Richard down cold. Fabulous book, and an excellent series.

I had heard about her misfortune (?); it reminded me of the time Gibbons' maid used his only copy of the manuscript of "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" to light the fire in his study. He had to do it over as well and myth has it that the new version was greatly improved. Do you suppose the same thing happened with Penman? LOL
Good question, although how anything could be better than that. I guess it's good authors now have computers and back ups, isn't it?



I found her main invented character, Veronique de Crecy, also very well drawn and wished we might have had much more of Cecily Neville. I would have liked to know what training instilled in her such stoicism.

I would like for her to write one about Margaret of York. I'm sure it would be a master piece like so many of her other works.

I can't recall Edmund at all from the novel, although its been a few years. Off to Wik to research.....

There is a chapel on that very bridge dedicated to him.

Of course, for the first one, everyone is picking Henry VIII because it's the only king they've ever heard of, and for the second, they're picking Philippa Gregory because it's the only author they've ever heard of.
And now people are voting that these aren't good questions simply because they're too ignorant to know/look up the answer! Pssshhh, sorry folks, but you not getting it right =/= it being a bad question.
It also goes to show that we need to get the word out about the utter awesomeness that is The Sunne in Splendour.

The Sunne in Splendour is the R3 book 'to beat'. That is, if anyone ever writes a better one about him, it'll be the best. Though I think her books about the Welsh princes are superb and superior even to TSiS.
It's amazing how many people compare every other book about Richard back to Penman's. I am not so patiently waiting to have yours to compare it to....
Wait until you read her Henry/Eleanor books. Devil's Brood was just fabulous, loved loved the dialogue.
BTW, a great place to chat all things historical fiction (and Susan and Elizabeth post there as well) is historicalfictiononline.com
Wait until you read her Henry/Eleanor books. Devil's Brood was just fabulous, loved loved the dialogue.
BTW, a great place to chat all things historical fiction (and Susan and Elizabeth post there as well) is historicalfictiononline.com

I'm a little more than halfway through The Sunne in Splendour now.
I'm loving it, but...
I'm a little disappointed in the portrayal of Elizabeth and her family. It seems so shallow. I'm sure part of that is because I'm reading a biography of Elizabeth Woodville right now, too. I'm also instinctively sympathetic to women who have been demonized by history...I just doubt that they could have been THAT bad, kwim?
Still, it seems very out of character for SKP to write a character so one-dimensional. This is the woman that challenged history's view of King John, yet for Elizabeth Woodville she seems to have no sympathy. It bothers me a bit. Did anyone else feel that way?


It's been about 4-5 years since I read Sunne and it being the first book I'd read on the period I knew next to nothing about the Woodvilles, so I wouldn't have picked up on that.

I think the picture of Elizabeth here was very influenced by Paul Murray Kendall's biography of Richard. Given that, it's commendable that Penman gave Elizabeth at least some redeeming characteristics, because Kendall gives her none whatsoever--she and Margaret of Anjou are the Evil Queens.


I'm about 1/9th of the way through SiS and I'm enjoying it very much. Have just gotten to the part about Edwards's marriage to Katherine Woodville and how furious Warwick is about it all. I've been pulling out some of my English history reference books to check on people in the book, as it's been a while since I read anything on the Wars of the Roses. I know I'm going to hate reading about Bosworth field, as I am a pro-Ricardian and think Richard's gotten a bum historical rap.
Hi Hannah, glad to see you're enjoying it. Don't forget to check out the bookshelf and/or book threads for further reading ideas on the period.

As for SiS, I loved it. This was the first I read by Penman and after this I read every other title she wrote about the Plantagenet family.

I'm often bereft at the end of really good books, sorry to see them over and sad that there isn't more. But the feeling I had at the close of this one was not only for the end of the book, but also so overwhelmed at the tragedy of Richard's death and the unfair hand that history has dealt him.
I, too, found myself continually putting the book down towards the end. I whizzed through most of it, but couldn't bring myself to finish it ~ knowing what the end would be, but wishing it would be different.
I know what you mean Jennifer. It's so hard with books on R3 to come to the end and it always ends up happening the same.

I feel the same way. You know what's coming but at the same time you wish the ending would change!


I think it would be awesome if SKP did a follow-up with Elizabeth and Henry VII. But it's been so long, I doubt she will. Still, her vision of Elizabeth is my favorite. A good mix of Edward IV, her mother, and the quiet, gentle woman she seemed to be known for during her reign.


If you read them and like them please join the Justin de Quincy fan club on Facebook. We are hoping to get large enough numbers to encourage the publisher to rethink his reluctance.

I used to think that Richard was this evil man who killed his nephews etc. I'm now finding it incredibly hard to believe that he would do such a thing. Also, I'm discovering more and more how much I can't stand Henry VII (I began my dislike of him when I really started delving into Tudor history). SKP brought so many of these characters to life for me. I haven't been this emotionally invested in a book for so long and it sucks because I know what's coming at the end and I don't want it to!!!


Aly, my first intro to the real Richard was SKP's The Sunne in Splendour. Aside from it being a great read, it also prompted me to investigate the historical Richard, and led me to writing what started as a short story to now three books about him (1st one is now published). The next book I read about Richard was Paul Murray Kendall's Richard the Third. I can't recommend a better follow-up book than Kendall's if you want to read more about him for two main reasons: it's accessible to the non-historian (such as myself), and its extensive bibliography. Another book I recommend is Bertram Field's Royal Blood (see discussions of Royal Blood on this board).


Aly wrote: "Great!!! Thanks, Joan!!! I don't know that much about the Plantagenets, but I definitely want to know more!! Especially about Richard and his brothers. I never really wanted to know more until ..."
Aly, isn't it fascinating when you learn how That Upstart Henry Tudor first came on the throne? The Plantagenets are a most fascinating family and well worth hunting down anything and everything you can read. Somewhere here at GR there's a list of historical fiction on them. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll hunt down the URL later. It's still early and I'm just waking up :)
Aly, isn't it fascinating when you learn how That Upstart Henry Tudor first came on the throne? The Plantagenets are a most fascinating family and well worth hunting down anything and everything you can read. Somewhere here at GR there's a list of historical fiction on them. Let me know if you can't find it and I'll hunt down the URL later. It's still early and I'm just waking up :)

Ikonopeiston - Oh yes, I reread scenes and passages from this book for weeks afterward! That's one of my hallmarks for a 5-star review, when a book gets to me so much I can't stop thinking about it and picking it up and rereading it. BTW, I also felt this way about Here be Dragons, which I read first.
Mandy - Excellent observation about Elizabeth Woodville's portrayal. I hadn't even thought about it until you mentioned it and then I thought back through all of her books and couldn't think of another female character she was as unsympathetic toward. She even makes Rosamund Clifford sympathetic! The only part where I felt any sympathy for Elizabeth was when she found out about the plight troth. But I got over it.
MAP - Judging from her comments on her blog, I doubt SKP will write about the Tudors! But she is hard at work on Lionheart. You should visit her blog; she gives frequent updates and shares research tidbits.



Joan ,I read this book and absolutely loved it. I, like a lot of others here didn't want it to end and of course was wishing for a different outcome than the one I knew was coming. It was Penman's book that made me a fan of Richard III and brought me to this group and to your books, which I haven't read yet but are on my TBR. I still have to buy them but really look forward to reading them.

I'm a little more than halfway through The Sunne in Splendour now.
I'm loving it, but...
I'm a little disappointed in the portrayal of Elizabeth and her ..."
I recall the book being sympathetic to the woman, but not the situation. Elixabeth was not characterized as Evil or beyond sympathy. The situation with the Woodvilles was characterized as a destabilizing factor throughout the reign of Edward IV--two different things. I recall the relationship between Edward and Elizabeth as being warm and convincing.
It was certainly different from the hyper-romantic attitude in the magical/fantasy version in The White Queen, which a lot of the time was like fingernails on a chalk board for me and actually took away from sympathy for Elizabeth Woodville for me more often than not.