A review by ismemestar
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman

emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Moving and epic. Long, but definitely worth the read, the length gives you time to get to know the characters and care deeply about them and not get too bogged down over dates and events, spanning as it does over three decades of people's lives and of English history. Meticulously researched, it doesn't reflect the latest scholarship anymore, as it was written over forty years ago, but it is clearly a labor of love and the attention to detail is immaculate. You can tell it's a first novel, the prose and dialogue don't always read naturally (but when they work, they work) and sometimes there's a tendency to spell out a character's motivations in a way that is not subtle that I find a little annoying, but gosh this is a gem. Took me over a month to read (largely because of life and because I read other books in between) but I could not set it down for large stretches, particularly near the end, dreading the inexorable ending of Bosworth, hoping that this time, THIS time, things would at last be different. This is a Yorkist tale, and specifically sides with Richard, where most of the pathos and the time is centered, but there are many point of view characters, including people on the other sides of conflicts with Richard---Margaret of Anjou (Marguerite in this text to help with name confusion), Somerset, Hastings, Elizabeth Woodville, just to name a few---which lends a more evenhanded approach to the novel. I don't necessarily agree with every characterization choice based on the history, but it's all compelling and well written. I cried solidly through the last...fifty pages? It's about Richard III, but it's about so much more than that, about friendship and honor and justice and personality clashes and fate and Truth. Highly highly recommend. Can't wait to read more by this author, can't wait to reread.