Renaissance - The Fall and Rise of a King - Marla Skidmore

Title - Renaissance - The Fall and Rise of a King
Author - Marla Skidmore (Twitter)
ISBN - 9781912183296
Genre - Historical Fiction 
My Copy - Purchased
Format - Softcopy 
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US - Amazon CA -  Barnes & Noble - Book Depository 

The Plain of Redemore, 22nd August 1485

Richard III - betrayed and defeated!
His gaze sweeps over the bloody carnage surrounding him. A cry goes up: "We have found the king!" He sees Henry Tudor standing triumphant over a mauled and battered corpse and hears him whisper, "It is done. England is mine."

How can this be, when he is not dead?

With the help of his celestial mentor Father Gilbert, a Franciscan monk, Richard will learn that malign Tudor propaganda has not reigned supreme and that history did not entirely paint him as the child-killer king.

Will he grasp the chance of renaissance and exit the spiritual purgatory that has held him hostage for more than half a millennium?

"After Tewkesbury I murdered Henry VI and his son Edward Lancaster. I executed my brother Clarence - drowning him in a butt of Malmsey. I usurped England's throne to which i had no right. I killed my nephews. I poisoned my wife in order to incestuously marry my niece. My place in history is amongst the most reviled and evil villain's that ever existed. How can someone whose reputation is so mired in infamy find peace in heaven?"

Quote from Chapter 6 page 42

So first off let me start by saying that i am not a huge fan of Richard III and my opinion of him isn't the greatest since Henry VII is my personal favourite King in England's history but this book made me like Richard, with the way this book is written Skidmore tells the tale of a new version with Richard looking back on the few years he was King. 

Richard in this book kind of reminds me of the Richard from horrible histories (If you don't know what i am talking about click here) he has compassion, and he is not the monster that is mostly portrayed in books and TV, don't get me wrong i still am a firm believer that the best person won on the day but now i can understand Richard a bit more than i did before. 

The development of Richard's character was really good, he starts of this downtrodden, sad, and then he grows as he learns of his fate, i enjoyed this book immensely i love Marla Skidmore's writing she has a way with words that make you need to read more and more and not put the book down i was gripped from the very first page and it had me all the way to the end. 

This book is a true and wonderful Historical Fiction, it isn't filled with fairy tales, it isn't filled with boring facts and written like a biography, it is written in a way that is very hard to do, and my only complaint was that it is only 171 pages long, i wished it had been longer maybe to 250 pages but other than that i loved this book, and i cannot wait to read more of Skidmore's writing. I am so glad i went to the Bosworth Anniversary Weekend and found this Author and her book because it has become one of my favourites from this particular era and i can't wait for the next book which i believe is about Sir Francis Lovell, but for now if Historical fiction is something that you enjoy then you will enjoy this book completely and i highly recommend it. 

Until Next Time 

Happy Reading 

Jade 

🌹🌹🌹🌹

(there was no white roses)