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In Praise of Sharon Kay Penman

My favorite novelist is Sharon Kay Penman. She might well be the best historical novelist living. She writes historical fiction and mysteries set in medieval England and Wales, and she pays attention to detail. What she wrote almost always could have happened, and usually the almost unbelievable things she does include in her stories did happen. I think the only serious mistake I found in one of her books is one she admits to in her Author's Note at the end of Time and Chance--Petronilla, whom history says died in 1151, the sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, survives that date in her novels.

Her first novel was The Sunne in Splendour which tells the story of Richard, duke of Gloucester, who came to the throne as Richard III. History believes him to be the ultimate evil uncle, who murdered his nephews, the Princes of the Tower, to ascend the throne. Without giving away the plot, let me just say she doesn't believe he did it, and she is a favorite of the Richard III Society, which is dedicated to the rehabilitation of the last Plagentant king. This book was my introduction to her works, and she made the story come alive.

She then began her first trilogy with Here Be Dragons, the story of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, set in the late 1190s. Llewelyn married Joanne, the illegitimate daughter of King John, and this is the novel where we are first introduced to Eleanor of Aquitaine. The second in this trilogy is Falls the Shadow, about Henry III, King John's son, and it ends with The Reckoning, which is about Simon de Montfort.

Her next series of books started out as a trilogy, and they relate the story of Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. It begins with When Christ and His Saints Slept, which relates the story of the years of anarchy, when King Stephen and his cousin the Empress Maude (also known in history as Matilda) battled for the throne. She also introduced us to Ranulf, who is fictious but is perhaps the most important character in the book, able to gain admittance to either side of the conflict. This is the only time that one of her main characters has been completly fictious---previously servants, whose names and existence are unknown to history, would have been created in her novels. Ranulf takes the part of one of King Henry I's bastard sons--and the king had so many bastards one more could easily have been lost in history.

The story continues with Time and Chance, which focuses on the conflict between Henry II and Thomas à Becket. It concludes with The Devil's Brood, published in October 2008. That book ends with Henry's death and tells the story of the rebellion of Eleanor and their sons. Lionheart, which begins were The Devil's Brood ends, tells the story of the first half of the reign of Richard I, and was published in October 2011. It tells the story of the Third Crusade, the one that is known as Richard's Crusade. In March 2014 King's Ransom. which concludes the story of Richard's life, was published.

Her mysteries introduce us to her slueth, Justin de Quincy, who, when we meet him, is the 20-year-old bastard son of the Bishop of Chester. He solves mysteries, murders, on behalf of his Queen, the fabled Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor must be one of Sharon Penmen's favorite queens---she has included her in most of her books. The mysteries begin with The Queen's Man, which was considered for the Peabury Prize in Mystery, and continued with Cruel as the Grave, with Dragon's Lair and most recently, Prince of Darkness. He later appears in King's Ransom. I own all of her books.

Be forwarned: while her mysteries are about 250 pages long, her historical novels are at least 550 pages. Usually more. But they're worth the read.

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