For information on how to borrow any of these books, please click here
Fiction
B
BAER, Anne
Medieval Woman: Village Life in the Middle Ages
Published 1996, Hardback
A year in the life of Marion the village carpenter’s wife and her family and friends.
BAILEY, H.C.
The Merchant Prince
Published 1926, Hardback
Circa 1460-85: the story of how a boy of humble origin becomes a successful merchant, set against a background of the Wars of the Roses.
BALE, Ethan
Hawker and the King’s Jewel
Published 2022, Paperback
August 1485, the eve of the Battle of Bosworth, King Richard III summons a grizzled knight, Sir John Hawker, and charges him with one last mission.
BARNES, Margaret Campbell
The King’s Bed
Published 1961, Hardback; 1971, Paperback
Love story of Leicester inn keeper’s daughter and Richard Plantagenet, illegitimate son of Richard III.
BARNES, Margaret Campbell
The Tudor Rose
Published 1953, Hardback; 1971, Paperback
1483-1502: life of Elizabeth of York.
BARRINGER, Leslie
The Rose in Splendour: a story of the Wars of Lancaster and York
Published 1953, Hardback
1460-61: realistic picture of 18 months in the life of a boy leaving his family’s farm to be apprenticed in York, and getting caught up in the battle of Towton.
BARRINGTON, Michael
A Mystery to this Day
Published 1949, Hardback; 1949, Paperback
Story of Perkin Warbeck, circa 1489-99, including long supplement of extracts from documents and original sources.
BEAMISH, Noel de Vic
The Blooming of the Rose
Published 1962, Hardback
Jasper Tudor plays a major part in the period 1450-85, first as the lover of Margaret of Anjou, and then as the tireless supporter of his nephew Henry Tudor. The novel ends with the Battle of Bosworth.
BEAUCHAMP, Bridget
Maiden of Middleham
Published 2021, Paperback
A chance encounter changes the life of Eleanor and she finds herself in service at Middleham Castle. Here she first meets Richard unaware of his noble birth. They fall in love soon he leaves the castle and she bears his child but keeps the father’s name secret. The novel follows Eleanor’s life. Whilst Richard fights battles, marries and returns to Middleham and is reacquainted with Eleanor.
BEGG, Stephen
Becket Bramble and The Princes in the Tower
Published 2016, Paperback
This is a novel for children aged between 10-14 years of age. When Becket Bramble is sent to live with his aunt in York little does he realise that it is the start of a terrifying journey which would take him to medieval England and the Tower of London. Aided by his magic Templar pendant Becket becomes involved with the race against time to rescue the ‘Princes in the Tower’ from the sinister Lady Margaret Beaufort and the wicked Duke of Buckingham.
BELLE, Pamela
The Lodestar
Published 1987, Hardback; 1988, Paperback
1481- 85: ambition is the lodestar that leads Christie to join the household of the Duke of Gloucester, but he discovers that the price of power and worldly success may be too high.
BENNET, Mrs
Jane Shore, or The Goldsmith’s Wife
Published first circa 1839, Hardback, several undated editions in stock
Story of Jane Shore from her marriage until her death in 1483 (sic).
BENNETT, Vanora
Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Published 2006, Hardback
The central character in this book is Meg Giggs, foster daughter of Thomas More. She is loved by two very different people John Clement, one of Thomas More’s proteges and the painter Hans Holbein. The book is based around the late Jack Leslau’s theory concerning the true identity of John Clement.
BENNETT, Vanora
Figures in Silk
Published 2008, Hardback
Isabel Lambert, fictitious sister of Jane Shore, reluctantly marries Thomas, son of silk woman Alice Claver. After Thomas’s death she is drawn into the silk importing business and soon has ideas of bringing silk weaving to England. While Jane begins her liaison with Edward IV, Isabel starts her own romantic attachment with a young nobleman who turns out to be Richard of Gloucester.
BENNETTS, Pamela
Bright Son of York
Published 1971, Hardback
1445-71: Edward and Warwick, mainly as seen by one of Edward’s courtiers.
BENNETTS, Pamela
The Third Richard
Published 1972, Hardback
1483-85: former boon-companion of Edward IV tries to secure the safety of the Princes.
BENTLEY, Elizabeth
The York Quest
Published 1980, Hardback
1485: a medieval thriller involving a disputed inheritance and the fate of the Princes.
BENTLEY, Pauline
Silk and Sword
Published 1993, Paperback
1485: the stormy relationship between Yorkist heroine and Lancastrian hero involving a disputed inheritance and hereditary insanity, but all ends happily.
BENTLEY, Phyllis
Sheep May Safely Graze
Published 1972, Hardback
Children’s version of the story of Henry Clifford, the ‘Shepherd Lord’ who grew up disguised as a shepherd to protect him from the Yorkists.
BIRD, Hazel
The Last Plantagenet
Published 1994, Hardback
1478-1541, the life story of Margaret, the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence.
BLAKE, Margaret Glaiser
A Sprig of Broom
Published 1979, Hardback
1486-88: forced marriage between Yorkist and Lancastrian; more sex and less history than usual.
BOWDEN, Susan
In the Shadow of the Crown
Published 1987, Paperback
Part One: 1482-85, the love story of a ward of the Duke of Gloucester and one of his grooms.
Part Two: 1536-38, their grandson joins the Pilgrimage of Grace and eventually regains his grandmother’s inheritance.
BOWEN, Marjorie
Dickon: an historical romance
Published 1929, Hardback; 1971, Paperback
Rather old-fashioned romantic account of Richard III’s life.
BRANDEWYNE, Rebecca
Rose of Rapture
Published 1984, Paperback
1470-90: a bodice-ripper verging on the pornographic, charting the stormy course of the marriage between a ward of Edward IV who becomes one of Anne Neville’s ladies and her misogynist ‘warden’.
BRIDGE, S.R.
The Woodville
Published 1976, Hardback
Elizabeth Woodville, from the death of her first husband in 1461 to the birth of the Prince of Wales in 1471.
BROGGER, Frederick
Inherit the Sun
Published 2017, Paperback
A novel following Richard III from 1483 when he learns of Edward IV’s death until his own death on Bosworth Field.
BURTON, Edmund
Under the Red Rose: a tale of the great struggle between the rival houses of York and Lancaster
Published 1946, Hardback
1485: children’s adventure story of a disputed inheritance; the young hero joins Henry Tudor’s army.
Banner image of King Richard III’s Book of Hours (MS 474f. 7v) reproduced by kind permission of Lambeth Palace Library.