I heard about this book being one of the first fictional books that didn't make Richard III out to be a tyrant. Bowen published it in 1929. It wasn't bad, but it definitely was silly and, to overuse a word, cheesy. It starts when Richard's father, the Duke of York, is killed when Richard was 8 and he and his older brother George were spirited off to the Low Countries while their older brother, Edward, continued to fight the Lancasters for the throne. On the boat ride, Richard is frightened by a man he thinks is the devil, and this man pops up periodically the rest of his life, leading Richard to think the house of York is cursed. She left out major time periods of his life, unfortunately, like his time in Middleham with Warwick. A reader less well versed on RIII would have wondered why exactly he was so hurt by Warwick's later betrayal. She also used really overly formal medieval language. Her historical details weren't quite on track, I caught a few major blunders, but for being almost 100 years old (no internet back then!) she didn't do too badly.
And on a related note, tomorrow is the anniversary of Good King Richard's birthday. Which might explain my current reading choices :)
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