The Sunne in Splendour
Sharon Penman
 The story begins in 1459 with Richard as a young boy, and ends in 1485 with his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Penman rejects the common belief that Richard killed the "Princes in the Tower," the sons of his brother King Edward IV, and attributes their deaths to the overly ambitious Duke of Buckingham. When their father is killed, Richard's older brother Edward leads the House of York to victory and becomes king as Edward IV. Edward dies prematurely at age 40, and Richard becomes the Protector of the Realm for Edward's sons, Edward and Richard. When he learns of his brother's marriage to the boys' mother, Elizabeth Woodville, he calls it illegal because of a secret previous marriage, making Edward's children illegitimate making him the heir to the throne. When Elizabeth's brother, Anthony, Lord Rivers, engages in a plot to crown young Edward without Richard's knowledge, his protectorship is ended. Once crowned, Richard's son, Edward, and his wife, Anne, die. After two years as king, he faces his greatest challenge from an army of French mercenaries led by Tudor, the future King Henry VII. At Bosworth, betrayed by two of his nobles, he is killed a few feet from Henry.