Ricardian Fiction

Fiction plays an important part in the culture surrounding Richard III. Novels can set the scene in a way a work of scholarship cannot do and therefore it is important to acknowledge their role.

The following selection of novels featuring Richard III has been made by Carolyn Hammond, the Barton Librarian for over twenty years, who retired in 2001.

BOWEN, Marjorie
Dickon: an historical romance  (1929)
The author was an early supporter of the Fellowship of the White Boar - this is her account of Richard’s life, rather romantic and old-fashioned to modern readers.

CARLETON, Patrick
Under the Hog  (1937)
Covering the period 1470 to 1485, this is still one of the best novels on the life of Richard III, especially for those who do not care for ‘historical romances’.

DAVIDSON, Margaret
My Lords Richard  (1979)
A first person narrative - Anne Neville movingly relates the story of her life, and of the two Richards she loved, her father and her husband.

EDWARDS, Rhoda
Fortune’s Wheel  (1978)
A well-researched and movingly told account of the lives of Richard and Anne from 1468 to 1472.

EDWARDS, Rhoda
Some Touch of Pity  (1976)
A well-researched and movingly told account of the events of 1483 to 1485, seen through the eyes of several narrators including Richard, Anne Neville, Francis Lovell and Dr Hobbes.

HOCKING, Mary
He who plays the King  (1980)
An unromantic account of the two who were to be king, Richard III and Henry Tudor, from 1459 to 1485.

HONEYMAN, Brenda
Richard by the Grace of God  (1968)
An account of Richard’s life from 1461 to 1485, with extracts from contemporary letters and chronicles woven into the narrative.

JARMAN, Rosemary Hawley
We Speak no Treason  (1971)
A deeply felt account of Richard’s life revealed through the narratives of the Maiden who loved him, Patch the Court Fool and the Man of Keen Sight who served him.

McCHESNEY, Dora
The Confession of Richard Plantagenet  (1913)
Covering the period 1471 to 1485, it depicts a saint-like Richard committing the traditional crimes but for the noblest reasons.

PALMER, Marian
The White Boar  (1969)
The events of 1465 to 1485 seen through the eyes of Francis Lovell and his (fictional) cousin.

PENMAN, Sharon
The Sunne in Splendour  (1983)
Covering the period 1459 to 1485, this is a detailed (over 1000 pages) and sympathetic account of Richard’s life as a loyal brother, a devoted husband and father, and a trusting friend.

TEY, Josephine
The Daughter of Time  (1951)
Classic detective novel which has introduced many people to the controversy surrounding Richard III – a 20th- century police inspector investigates the mystery of the disappearance of the Princes. Click here to learn more.

TREVAN, Ruth
Loyalty Binds Me  (1966)
Sympathetic retelling of the story of Richard’s life from 1463 to 1485, a life dedicated to the service of his brother.

WHITTLE, Tyler
The Last Plantagenet: a study of Richard III, King of England, France and Ireland  (1968)
Covering Richard’s life from 1459 to 1485, with more about his childhood and adolescence than in most novels.