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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Battle violence across multiple Wars of the Roses engagements; executions and the brutality of medieval warfare
Language
Barely any
Literary prose; no profanity
Sexual Content
Some
Adult romantic relationships and medieval marriage; some adult content, restrained
Substance Use
Barely any
Period-appropriate drinking at court
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The weight of loyalty to a cause that is gradually being lost; the grief of watching everyone you love die in a dynastic war
What this book is about
Sharon Kay Penman's massive historical novel rehabilitates Richard III—showing him as a man of loyalty and love caught in the brutal dynastic conflict of the Wars of the Roses. A sympathetic and meticulously researched counter-portrait to Shakespeare's villain, spanning decades of medieval English history.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Sustained medieval battle violence
Multiple deaths of beloved characters across a very long novel
Reader Verification
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