What do you think?
Rate this book
Cleave to the Crown: A sequel to Maid of Middleham
1485 and the country is in turmoil. King Richard III is dead, his courage on the battlefield at Redemore Plain betrayed by treachery, his faithful knights either slain or on the run. Many of the household at Middleham Castle are preparing to leave, Eleanor amongst them. However, allegiant Yorkists unable to accept the Tudor usurper, are secretly plotting revenge.
Seeking work with her late husband’s relatives at Nappa Hall, Eleanor is sent to attend a fugitive knight who has arrived at the Wensleydale manor house. She immediately recognises him as the late king’s most loyal friend. The stage is set for a last Yorkist revival but will it succeed?...
As a sequel to ‘Maid of Middleham’ this tale of loyalty, love, desire, deception and death, continues Eleanor’s life while Francis Lovell fights to avenge his king at the battle of Stoke and two so called ‘Pretenders’ emerge to bid for the restoration of the Yorkist crown
Seeking work with her late husband’s relatives at Nappa Hall, Eleanor is sent to attend a fugitive knight who has arrived at the Wensleydale manor house. She immediately recognises him as the late king’s most loyal friend. The stage is set for a last Yorkist revival but will it succeed?...
As a sequel to ‘Maid of Middleham’ this tale of loyalty, love, desire, deception and death, continues Eleanor’s life while Francis Lovell fights to avenge his king at the battle of Stoke and two so called ‘Pretenders’ emerge to bid for the restoration of the Yorkist crown
Kindle Edition
Published December 19, 2023
9 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 15, 2024
This is the sequel to Maiden of Middleham which told the story of Eleanor who was Richard III’s teenage lover and mother of his illegitimate child—not one of the known ones. I had criticized that novel as being too wordy and much of reading like a boring history lesson. Nonetheless, I found it a step-up from most Ricardian romances because Eleanor is a well-rounded heroine who doesn’t spend her life pining for Richard. She gets on with her life, feeling lust and love for other men.
We first see Eleanor here in the aftermath of Bosworth as she copes with her own grief and decides she must tell her daughter that her father was the dead king. Again, she must find a way to make a living for herself and her children. She is a witness to the rebellions which resulted in the debacle of the battle of Stoke and later to the Perkin Warbeck affair.
Again, the writing style is a little too wordy and in the first part of the book especially she falls back on history report style. For example, her brothers were at Bosworth under the Duke of Northumberland and were disgusted by his inaction. They survived and it would have seem that it would have more effective to have them tell her about the battle and their feelings. Just wondering.
As far as the Lambert Simnel affair is concerned, the author posits that it really was to put Edward V on the throne and that he was crowned in Dublin but he did have a body double at Stoke —Lambert Simnel who was also a son of Edward IV by a mistress. AND Edward of Warwick got out of the Tower by switching with another boy. Why not cram every conceivable possibility into the plot?
The book does have Edward V assume the identity of John Evans and becoming a parker and he has an interesting meeting with his younger brother, Dickon, aka Perkin when the latter is eager to make his bid for the throne. This scene is very effective, but during it the author felt compelled to bring up the old canard about Edward IV being himself illegitimate. Not exactly the old gossip about the archer, but that the Duke of York’s mistress (unidentified) was Edward and Edmund’s mother. Whatever—it’s her book.
What elevates this book is Eleanor’s portrayal. She is believable woman, subject to passions, failings, and loyalty. She has a one-night stand with a handsome German captain, Stefan Bauer, who comes to Yorkshire with Martin Schwartz on the way to Stoke. It may have started as pure lust, but each stays in the other’s thoughts for the yers to come. Believing that Stefan must have died at Stoke, a lonely Eleanor decides to accept a marriage proposal from an older Cumberland man. She feels no particular physical attraction nor love for her new husband, but he provides her with a comfortable life. He is proud of his pretty wife, but also jealous and can be brutal when he is in his cups. When he is not, they can enjoy the Cumberland countryside they both love. Not a great marriage, but not disastrous. A realistic one. Like this heroine. 3.5⭐️
We first see Eleanor here in the aftermath of Bosworth as she copes with her own grief and decides she must tell her daughter that her father was the dead king. Again, she must find a way to make a living for herself and her children. She is a witness to the rebellions which resulted in the debacle of the battle of Stoke and later to the Perkin Warbeck affair.
Again, the writing style is a little too wordy and in the first part of the book especially she falls back on history report style. For example, her brothers were at Bosworth under the Duke of Northumberland and were disgusted by his inaction. They survived and it would have seem that it would have more effective to have them tell her about the battle and their feelings. Just wondering.
As far as the Lambert Simnel affair is concerned, the author posits that it really was to put Edward V on the throne and that he was crowned in Dublin but he did have a body double at Stoke —Lambert Simnel who was also a son of Edward IV by a mistress. AND Edward of Warwick got out of the Tower by switching with another boy. Why not cram every conceivable possibility into the plot?
The book does have Edward V assume the identity of John Evans and becoming a parker and he has an interesting meeting with his younger brother, Dickon, aka Perkin when the latter is eager to make his bid for the throne. This scene is very effective, but during it the author felt compelled to bring up the old canard about Edward IV being himself illegitimate. Not exactly the old gossip about the archer, but that the Duke of York’s mistress (unidentified) was Edward and Edmund’s mother. Whatever—it’s her book.
What elevates this book is Eleanor’s portrayal. She is believable woman, subject to passions, failings, and loyalty. She has a one-night stand with a handsome German captain, Stefan Bauer, who comes to Yorkshire with Martin Schwartz on the way to Stoke. It may have started as pure lust, but each stays in the other’s thoughts for the yers to come. Believing that Stefan must have died at Stoke, a lonely Eleanor decides to accept a marriage proposal from an older Cumberland man. She feels no particular physical attraction nor love for her new husband, but he provides her with a comfortable life. He is proud of his pretty wife, but also jealous and can be brutal when he is in his cups. When he is not, they can enjoy the Cumberland countryside they both love. Not a great marriage, but not disastrous. A realistic one. Like this heroine. 3.5⭐️
April 20, 2024
A brilliant sequel to “Maid Of Middleham” A well written piece of Historical Fiction as good as book one if not better
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews