Sunne in Splendour (Paperback)

by Sharon Kay Penman (Author) "RICHARD did not became frightened until darkness began to settle over the woods..." (more)
Key Phrases: solar doorway, wine flagon, castle bailey, Earl of Warwick, Will Hastings, Edward of York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A painstakingly drawn picture of royal medieval England from bedchamber to battleground.”
---Los Angeles Times Book Review

“The reader is left with the haunting sensation that perhaps the good a man does can live after him---especially in the hands of a dedicated historian.”
---The San Diego Union

“Those who know Richard III from Shakespeare will find that Sharon Kay Penman presents a contrasting view of the English monarch . . . He’s an altogether nice man, a romantic hero as suitable to our late twentieth-century standards . . . as he was to those of medieval England . . . There is a vengeful quality to her insistence that is appealing; it makes for a good story.”
---The New York Times Book Review

“Ms. Penman’s novel, rich in detail and research, attempts to set the record straight . . . it is an uncommonly fine novel, one that brings a far-off time to brilliant life.”
---Chattanooga Daily Times

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
"The reader is left with the haunting sensation that perhaps the good a man does can live after him--especially in the hands of a dedicated historian."
SAN DIEGO UNION
In this stirring historical novel, Sharon Kay Penman redeems Richard III from his villainous role in history as the hulking, evil hunchback. This dazzling recreation of his life is filled with the sights and sounds of battle, and the passions of the highborn. Most of all, it brings to life a gifted man whose greatest sin was that he held principles too firmly for the times in which he lived, and loved too deeply to survive love's loss.


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Product Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 14, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345363132
• ISBN-13: 978-0345363138
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (157 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #204,418 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richard III Society's Anthem, July 21, 2002

By	Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Although Penman may be paying court to the Richard III Society, the controversy is strengthened (I still think he killed the kids). OK, so I'm not very open minded on Richard.....but Penman had me convinced throughout the read that I was wrong. This speaks well for her reputation as one of the best historical novelists. This is where she started. Her special genius lies in the bright and shining historical detail that she can weave into both plot and dialog (she's a very good student of history and at times is absolutely brilliant in conveying to us the workings of medieval minds).

I have no problem with Penman's romantic feelings about her heros. From Eleanor in the 1st trilogy to Joanna in Here Be Dragons to her raising the standard of Simon de Montfort as a visionary (but historically too early) icon of democracy, she does use them as a vehicle to carry forward a dynamic presentation of history....all in the best traditions of the historical novel.

Penman's true genius is the broad historical scope that is painted on top of the shimmering details of brief moments. It truely does feel as if you are living the story yourself, and it is this bringing us readers in as witnesses that stands as Penman's contribution to the art of the historical
novel.

If you prefer to read in chronological order:
1101-1154 When Christ And His Saints Slept (Vol 1 of Trilogy)
1156-1171 Time And Space (Vol 2 of Trilogy)
12th Cent Devil's Brood (Vol 3 of Trilogy)- not yet released
1192-1193 The Queen's Man
1193 Cruel As The Grave
1183-1232 Here Be Dragons (Vol 1 of Welsh Trilogy)
1231-1267 Falls The Shadow (Vol 2 of Welsh Trilogy)
1271-1283 The Reckoning (Vol 3 of Welsh Trilogy)
1459-1492 The Sunne In Splendour

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practically Perfect, June 10, 2003

By	Patricia A. Powell (gladstone, nj USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the best of the historic fiction genre. I cannot recall the last time I enjoyed a 900+ page novel so much. The Sunne in Splendour is an historic novel about the War of the Roses and its players; its about Warwick, Edward, Richard, Henry the last, Lancastrian king, Marguerite dAnjou, the Woodvilles, the Nevilles, and the Tudors. Having read Allison Weirs history, The War of the Roses, and having seen Shakespeares Richard III, I thought I knew a bit about both the story and the players. But I never quite saw them the story in this light.

One reviewer described this book as daring. I agree. Unlike Shakespeare, and the histories written by Tudor sycophants, Penman (through historic fiction) portrays Richard sympathetically, and heroically. She represents his claim to the throne as legitimate and creates a plausible alternative to disappearance of the princes in the tower, one in which Richard is quite innocent.

This is a story full of power struggles, warfare, greed, and avarice. It is a story full of malice, politics betrayal, murder, and yes love.

Is should be hard to care about people who lived in the 15th century, but it is not. Sharon Kay Penman brings all of the characters and their many faces to life. She tells the story to the 30+ years of warfare. We all know that history is written by the victorious. Five centuries after the events, Penman brilliantly gives Richard III a voice.

I highly recommend this book.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five, Ten, ONE HUNDRED STARS! My Kingdom for this Book!, July 4, 2001

By	E. A. Lewis "vox meretrix" (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Is it fair to review a book that changed your life? No, literally. At fourteen I stayed up until four in the morning, devouring this story of medieval power and politics, and have been a medieval historian ever since.

Penman has done a fantastic job of turning dry historical fact into fascinating and believable historical fiction. People's motives are not simple and easily understandable in real life, and the sometimes-conflicting drives and needs and desires of the cast of thousands in this book live up to that fact.

While undeniable sympathetic to King Richard the Third, it is not a cloying, simplistic, Good King Richard whitewash. Instead, it portrays the much-maligned king as an adoring younger brother left adrift when his idol dies and proves to have been less than perfect.

Supporting characters are equally complex, from the self-destructive King Edward to the self-absorbed Kingmaker, Warwick, from the unlikely queen Elizabeth Woodville to the helpless pawn, Elizabeth of York, from the insane King Henry VI to the ambitious King Henry VII. Possibly the only black villain in the piece is the Duke of Buckingham; everyone else is painted in shades of grey that make them honest people, rather than props.

If you can't stand historical novels because they are boring, read this. ...It's better than the tabloids!