Anna Easter Smith A Rose for the Crown Review

Overall Rating

A Rose for the Crown
Anna Easter Smith
Touchstone, Mar 2006, $16.95, 672 pp.
ISBN: 0743276876

In 1459 near Kent, eleven year old Kate Bywood works on the family farm until her mother's wealthier and connected kin, Lord Richard Haute over the objections of his wife Eleanor, takes his plucky niece to become companion to his reticent daughter Anne. A few years later Kate is forced to marry an aging affluent merchant, but he dies not long afterward leaving her rich. Though wealthy, she is forced into a second marriage, this time to George Haute, Richard's cousin, who wants to control her money, but not her body as he prefers young boys. Kate yearns for love, but feels trapped by society to ever find such.

That is until Kate meets Richard of Gloucester, who reciprocates her deepest feelings. They begin a torrid tryst. When her second spouse dies mysteriously during an attack in the nearby forest, Kate openly turns to Richard. They have three out of wedlock children, but he has no freedom in spite of his lofty position, that is if he wants his ambitions achieved of one day being the third Richard sitting on the throne. He marries Anne Neville.

This is a strong biographical fictionalized account of the life of Kate Bywood, that provides a warmer loving side to Richard III through the tender eyes of his paramour. The tale is at its strongest when Kate and Richard are together, but though gaps exist when they are apart (reflecting real history), the look at the era is loaded with rebellions and pretenders to the throne; though some readers might find the specifics tedious. Kate is a fabulous heroine whose story makes for a fascinating indirect look at another perspective of Richard III.