By Loyalty Bound

Book excerpt: “A rare treat. An exciting exploration of a piece of little-known history. A stunning new slant on the last of the Plantagenet kings . . . unmissable.”—Lancashire Evening Post Set during the War of the Roses, this novel is the story of defiant Anne Harrington, the woman destined to become mistress to the enigmatic Richard as a consequence of his involvement in the trials of her family. With her father and grandfather killed fighting for the Yorkists at Wakefield in 1460, Hornby Castle falls to her as an inheritance at the tender age of five. When her ward-ship is handed over to Thomas Stanley by the king himself, Anne’s uncles and the influence they might otherwise have wielded are virtually cut off. The story traces the Harringtons’ fight to keep possession of their ancestral home, the support given to them by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and Richard’s tumultuous and beguiling relationship with Anne as she is forced into a marriage arranged for her by her guardian, a man who has objectives beyond the determination to secure her future happiness. With a close eye for detail, Elizabeth Ashworth creates an intricately nuanced landscape, which serves as a remarkably effective and convincing backdrop. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a man often demonized in literary adaptations with his hunched back and questionable moral code, is revived to supreme effect. The romance of the era is effectively relayed, communicating a real sense of drama borne out of political tensions heightened by the emotional complexities that characterized the age. “A wonderfully imaginative and action-packed story which puts the formative years of young Richard of Gloucester in a compelling and credible new light.”—The Visitor