Showing results by author "J.P. Reedman" in All Categories

A MAN WHO WOULD BE KING : The Duke of Buckingham and Richard III November 2 1483. As Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham stands on the scaffold of Salisbury Market Square, accused of high treason, he reflects on his life during the turbulent era of the Wars of the Roses. After the death of his grandfather, the old Duke, Henry (known as Harry) is sent to the court of the new King Edward IV and placed into the household of his Queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Harry, coming from a rich and noble line, is considered a a “prize catch” for the Woodvilles, and soon he is forced, aged ten, to marry ...

Before there was a King called Richard III, there was a boy, Richard of the House of York, youngest living child of his large, royal-blooded family. A small, thin, nervous boy who witnesses the terror of the sack of Ludlow and is taken prisoner in its aftermath, along with his mother Cecily and two of his siblings. A child of eight sent for safety to a strange foreign land when his father is killed in battle and one of his brothers murdered, their heads spiked above the gates of York by the Lancastrian victors. A young boy raised to knighthood and a Dukedom by his eldest brother, the ...

Married to King Henry III at a young age, Eleanor of Provence navigates a world fraught with court intrigue and baronial wrath. A devoted mother, she defies the monks to care for her ailing son, future king Edward I. A loyal friend to family members, she incurs the jealousy of the nobles, the anger of the common folk. As Simon de Montfort's popularity rises and Henry's wanes, Eleanor must decipher friend from foe. Will her son Edward free his captive father at Evesham? Will Eleanor’s own legacy endure, or fade away like whispers in the wind? Today, Eleanor of Provence is lost to time, one...

I, RICHARD PLANTAGENET, PART ONE : TANT LE DESIREE (I have desired it so much.) 1471 : THE BATTLE OF BARNET. He is eighteen.It is his first battle. He is wounded…he is Richard of Gloucester, the King’s youngest brother. With the Kingmaker slain, Richard and his brother Edward IV go on to ultimate victory at Tewkesbury. The Old King Henry dies in ‘mysterious circumstances’ in the Tower and York’s claim is secure…Richard wants to marry Anne Neville, the Kingmaker’s daughter, but his brother George stands in his way and hides her in a London tavern… Not all the feuds are on the...

In 15th century England, there are two cousins, both the daughters of dukes, both widowed young, both the mother of sons called Henry. Both are named Margaret Beaufort. One Margaret’s son will be a future King. The other one’s son will be an infamous rebel. The ‘other Margaret Beaufort’ is the daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset. Proud and temperamental, Edmund’s bitterest enemy is Richard, Duke of York. Rumours swirl about Edmund—Is he to blame for losing many English territories in France? Is he the true father of Queen Margaret’s baby son, Edward of Westminster? Tensions ...

Daughter of a Scottish king and an Anglo-Saxon princess, Edith is sent to her Aunt Cristina, the Abbess of Romsey for her education. Cristina is harsh and unkind and tries to force Edith to wear a nun's veil, first as a disguise and then permanently, but Edith is enraged and tramples it on the ground. She begs her parents to move her from Romsey to the grand Abbey of Wilton and for a while Edith's life is calm and fulfilling--but then the suitors begin to come. Most fearsome of all is the King, William Rufus, with his fierce mismatched eyes, florid face...and evil reputation. More ...

Robin of Locksley, Lord of the Hood, continues his mission to help the people of Sherwood against the oppression of the Sheriff of Nottingham, even though his wife Marian, wounded in body and soul, has left him for the safety of Kirklees Priory. Mourning her loss, Robin has become hard and embittered—the Summer Lord has turned into a Winter King. At the Merlin Stone, deep in Sherwood, San Tan the guardian fire speaks of one who is coming, who will shake the foundations of the young outlaw’s life. Change arrives in the form of Clarimonde, Queen of the Shepherdesses, a mysterious girl who...

“The arrow swift to wound is already drawn from the quiver ; soon will the blow be struck ...” Robin of Locksley joins the annual village games, signifying the ancient battle between the ‘Lord of the Hood,’ and The Dark. A night of good cheer turns to terror as soldiers arrive to arrest Robin’s foster father, accused of poaching and witchcraft. During a struggle between Robin and a Norman master, the lord is killed and Robin made “wolfshead” – a term for a hunted man with a price on his head. Joining with his cousin Scarlet, John Little and Much the Miller's Son, they must ...

1964. Workmen digging on a bombsite in London uncover a hidden vault containing a lead coffin. The coffin is almost reburied in a mass grave in a local churchyard, but an old retired policeman, examining the sarcophagus in the police station where the find has been taken, notices a plaque attached to the leaden lid. What he reads, stuns him--this is not an unknown medieval nun or noblewoman. The coffin's occupant is a child--a Princess, Anne Mowbray, wife of Richard of Shrewsbury, one of the infamous Princes in the Tower, who disappeared in 1483... 1470's. Elizabeth is the Dowager Duchess ...

I RICHARD PLANTAGENET: PART TWO LOYAULTE ME LIE Sequel to Tante le Desiree but also a stand-alone book in its own right. 1483. King Edward IV is dead. The Woodvilles have the Great Seal—and the treasury. In the north Richard Duke of Gloucester receives word of his brother’s unexpected death from Lord Hastings, who advises him to get to London and take possession of the new young King. Riding into Northampton, Anthony Woodville, guardian of Edward V, is implicated in a plot to ambush Richard upon the road. He is arrested and Edward V taken into care by Gloucester and the flamboyant and ...

Rosamund Clifford, one of the most famous royal mistresses of all time—concubine to Henry II, the first Plantagenet King. A young maiden ruled by a grasping father who will stop at nothing to promote his own cause with the King...even using his daughter's beautiful face and enticing body to gain high favour. A fearful girl taken by a mysterious messenger from Godstow nunnery to a Tower surrounded by a grotesque topiary labyrinth, where she must wait for the arrival of the master of the maze—not the Minotaur of ancient Greek myth but the bull-like Plantagenet King Henry. Drawn like a ...

A Vous Me Lie—I am Bound to You. (An early motto found in a book of Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III.) Young Richard of Gloucester has returned to his brother King Edward’s court after training in the household of the Earl of Warwick. Quickly the young man finds himself caught up in court intrigues: the famous Smithfield Joust, the Woodvilles’ theft of Thomas Cook’s tapestries, the killing of the Earl of Desmond in dubious circumstances. He also is befriended by the older John Howard, and experiences his first tastes of love –which results in the births of his two ...

A mysterious lady clinging to a stone gargoyle on the roofline of Notre Dame Cathedral cries out for help to Charles D'Artagnan as he passes below. The young musketeer rescues her from the men that pursue her and then learns she is Countess Mireille du Plessuy--whose husband seeks to have her burnt as a witch. D'Artagnan hides her safely away and finds himself falling for her great beauty and charm...but then, without a word, she vanishes. Fearful that her husband the Count has abducted her, D'Artagnan must fare forth to gather his long-time friends, the three musketeers, and convince them ...

In the tumultuous Tudor Era, Katherine Plantagenet finds herself caught between the shadows of her past and the uncertainty of her future. At just fifteen, she feels the weight of her lineage as Richard III's illegitimate daughter. Married to the Earl of Huntingdon, she fears rejection, haunted by memories of a carefree childhood at Sheriff Hutton Castle. As whispers of royal intrigue swirl around her, Katherine must navigate a world where loyalty is fragile and betrayal lurks behind every corner. Will she reclaim her place in a kingdom that sees her as a threat, or will her past define her...

In the enchanting Middle Lands, nestled between the majestic Mountains of the Horns, life dances to the rhythm of the seasons. Once plagued by battles, the towns now thrive in friendly rivalry. But danger lurks in the shadows—trolls, goblins, and child-eating witches test the courage of the brave young adventurers who live there. As the Great Mother Pumpkin watches over haunted pumpkin patches, and wicked Krampus prowls for winter mischief, the call to adventure grows ever louder. Join these bold girls and boys as they navigate a world where magic and mischief intertwine, and every day ...

In a world where loyalty is tested and power is fleeting, young Ela, only child of the Earl of Salisbury, finds herself swept out of England after the death of her father to the opulent courts of Richard Lionheart. Betrothed to William Longsword, the King's illegitimate brother, she navigates a life filled with danger and ambition. As King John’s tyranny looms, Ela's love for William and their growing family face relentless threats. When war strikes and William is presumed lost at sea, ambitious suitors circle like vultures. Will Ela’s unwavering spirit endure, or will fate tear them ...

‘Small, very talkative, ready enough to do evil, shrewd and jocular, extremely cruel and daring.’ Orderic Vitalis on Mabel de Belleme. Mabel is the daughter of William de Belleme, known as Talvas, the Hard Shield, for his fierceness in battle…and at home. When William murders Mabel’s mother, he is expelled from his castle into exile—but Mabel follows him loyally, despite what he has done. As the Belleme fortunes gradually return, Mabel is married to an upstanding young lord, Roger de Montgomery, a close friend of the new Duke of Normandy—William, who will one day become the ...

Isabella Lawrence's world shifts when an ordinary photo shoot in a decaying London theatre plunges her into the tumultuous life of Victorian actress Arabella Lorne. Caught in a web of secrets and a marriage of convenience to the enigmatic Sir Augustus Stannion, Isabella faces a choice: fight against a lurking, malevolent force or return to her own time. As love grows amidst shadows and whispers, she must decide whether to abandon her heart for the safety of home or confront the darkness that threatens them both. Will she choose love or survival? A tale of time slips, gothic mansions, and ...

In the turbulent clashes for England's throne, Eleanor Talbot finds herself newly widowed and entangled in a dangerous secret. After a clandestine marriage to Edward, the young, handsome, newly proclaimed King, she believes love can conquer all. But after the blood-soaked battles of Mortimer’s Cross and Towton, Edward's heart strays to another widow, the captivating Elizabeth Woodville, whom he also marries in a clandestine rite. A few months later, he announces her as his new queen. As Eleanor grapples with Edward's betrayal and seeks solace in her faith, her past threatens to unravel ...

Edmund is the second son of Richard, Duke of York. Whisked away to Ireland as a child in troubled times, his best friend is his brother Edward, a year older, with whom his shares a special bond. Later, the family returns to England and the boys begin knightly training at Ludlow Castle, where they encounter bullying and intrigue as they grow from children to young men of royal blood and high destiny. Their father strives for peace but his motives are always questioned, and his enemy, Edmund Beaufort, fills the sickly King Henry VI's ears with slander and lies. Peace will not last. St Alban's...