This Sun of York


Fiction - Historical - Personage
520 Pages
Reviewed on 11/17/2015
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Mike Dixon for Readers' Favorite

Susan Appleyard’s epic novel, This Sun of York, begins with Richard of York’s unsuccessful challenge to the House of Lancaster at Blackheath and ends with his son’s triumphant victory at Towton nine years later. Today, we know the conflict as the War of the Roses. Contemporaries called it the War of the Cousins. The ruling classes were closely related and used their children as bargaining pieces. Sons and daughters were betrothed at an early age and that gave rise to some nasty family relationships, as Appleyard relates. Being married to a depraved man is bad enough. Life becomes unbearable when your husband is intent on killing your father. Fifteen-year-old Anne Plantagenet suffered such traumas. Her brother Edward (later Edward IV) was not immune from them. On more than one occasion, he was confronted by the bodies of dead relatives, slain by his own men.

Susan Appleyard’s This Sun of York has been carefully researched and is full of historical detail. But it is far more than an account of known events. Appleyard has filled in the gaps where the historical record is incomplete and has done so in a highly plausible and entertaining manner. Those who do not like explicit sex scenes can skip them for the meaty stuff of political intrigue and military prowess. Readers who want to know more about the bawdy side of life can follow Edward on his excursions into the fleshpots of London and share his mother’s alarm at what her teenage son is up to.