A ROSE FOR THE CROWN

After the gentle, cultivated voice of Rosalyn Landor recounts one of the most horrific scenes ever described, the story settles into a typical historical romance--except that the love interest is Richard III. In this account he is not Shakespeare's evil hunchback, but rather a handsome, honorable man whose rightful place on the throne has been usurped by that Tudor upstart, Henry VII. The book is carefully researched and beautifully read, but the story bogs down in the middle, and more time is spent on describing fashion than court intrigues. Still, Smith's interpretation of the historical events and it principals is plausible and made more so by Landor's dramatic portrayals. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]