Book description
Richard the Second is losing his hold on the crown and Henry of
Bolingbroke, previously exiled by the king, returns to England to
claim it. Richard is deposed and dies mysteriously, murdered some say
on the orders of Bolingbroke, now King Henry the Fourth. But Henry
finds the crown harder to hold onto than it was to win. He is beset by
enemies, hampered by disease, and concerned about the rebellious
behaviour of his son. Dominating the court and with his eye on the
crown is Harry of Monmouth, whose reckless conduct in low-class
taverns with his crony Sir John Oldcastle causes scandal. When the
king dies, Harry became King Henry the Fifth, and the change is
dramatic for both him and Oldcastle. The licentious youth becomes a
great king, and Oldcastle, the rake, turns into a religious reformer.
Oldcastle dies a martyr and Harry becomes the conquering hero of
Agincourt.
The Star of Lancaster is in the ascendant. Harry has brought France
to her knees and married her princess. It seems that the long war was
at an end. But a greater enemy than the French awaits Harry ...
Jean Plaidy, one of the preeminent authors of historical fiction for
most of the twentieth century, is the pen name of the prolific English
author Eleanor Hibbert, also know as Victoria Holt. Jean Plaidy's novels
had sold more than 14 million copies worldwide by the time of her death
in 1993.
