Found under a car park in Leicester more than 500 years after he was buried,Richard Ill has intrigued scholars and readers alike down the centuries.After decades of research on Richard and his period, and with five otherbooks about the York family to her credit, Anne Easter Smith's muse is thecomplex protagonist in This Son of York. With new information gleanedfrom his bones and ignominious burial place, Richard is reborn as a morethree-dimensional figure of history in this portrayal than in Shakespeare'sTudor-flattering play.

Love and strife in the struggle for the crown that came to be known as the War of the Roses. Feeble-minded King Henry VI falls into a catatonic state and doesn't emerge for sixteen months. His queen, Margaret of Anjou, will do anything to protect her husband and young son. The great lords are fighting among themselves to become 'the power behind the throne'. These elements combine to lead the kingdom into civil strife: York against Lancaster. During the maelstrom of war, Anne of York looks for love outside her marriage to the cruel Duke of Exeter, who fights for the house of Lancaster. Her brother Edward is a carefree and charismatic youth, given more to the pursuit of women than the lust for a crown, but when his father and younger brother are killed in battle he throws off the follies of youth and emerges as an inspired leader and surprisingly able military man.

The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers—a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis A Penguin Classic In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American.” Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards. Set in Steinbeck’s contemporary 1960 America, the novel explores the tenuous line between private and public honesty, and today ranks alongside his most acclaimed works of penetrating insight into the American condition. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction and notes by leading Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

One of the biggest killers in history is back...and looking for victims. A 14th Century corpse is unearthed in the name of science, bringing with it a punishing legacy. Dormant underground for hundreds of years, the plague has grown stronger than ever. Once set free, it never sleeps and it takes no prisoners. Archaeologists released it. Neither doctors, the police nor the army can stop it. Only one man can fight the new Black Death. To win, he must escape the clutches of crazed vigilantes, hell bent on executing him in the name of humanity, and survive not one but two nightmare journeys to salvation. This Son of York gives an uncompromising portrayal of modern-day York's trial by pestilence. The accuracy of detail within is just as uncompromising and as unrelenting as the story being told. Will York ever return to normality? The answer lies in This Son Of York's gritty narrative.

England, 1455 King Henry VI is proving to be an unstable monarch, prone to bouts of mysterious illness and susceptible to manipulation from others. Richard of York, the most powerful magnate in the land, steps in to manage affairs whilst Henry is unwell. Many people prefer York's rule, which does not please the queen. The country begins to divide and plots start to hatch.York himself is directly descended from the royal family line, in fact, a little more directly than Henry but he puts this fact aside and strives only to serve the king. This, however, becomes increasingly difficult due to the acts of the queen, who, now feeling threatened by York, calls her men to get rid of him.The York family is strong and the two eldest sons, Edward and Edmund are approaching manhood. Edward, bold and eager, is keen to leave his childhood behind and enter the world of men, of politics, combat and love. Edmund, the younger brother is more introspective and struggles to project his public image. Both boys look to York as their mentor, a match for any king; and Richard is proud of them both.But with sons comes the question of inheritance. Who will succeed Henry's throne? His own son, the young Prince Edward, or the capable York and his heirs?This historical window into the past lifts figures from the history books and gives the personality and purpose behind their actions. The story bears witness to the extremes of the human condition, from loving tenderness in court to vengeful violence on the battlefield.