Chapters Bookstore Hosts Historical Novelist Anne Easter Smith
PITTSFIELD, Mass. - Chapters Bookstore, located at 78 North St. in Pittsfield is pleased to welcome bestselling author Anne Easter Smith to the event room for a reading, discussion and signing of her books.Praised by Kirkus Reviews as a “strong new voice in the field of historical romance,” Anne Easter Smith took the genre by storm with A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York. In her new novel The King’s Grace (Touchstone Paperback Original; March 10, 2009; 1-4165-5045-7; $16.99); Smith uncovers a heroine that history only noticed once and brings to life her experiences in the Plantagenet royal court.
All history records about Grace Plantagenet is that she was an illegitimate daughter of King Edward IV, and one of the two attendants aboard the funeral barge of his widowed queen Elizabeth Woodville in 1492. The King’s Grace begins in 1485 soon after Grace is taken in by Elizabeth following Edward’s death and she joins her half-sisters at court. Entwining the vibrant and political court life with the delicate relationships of a royal family, Smith traces the steps of Grace’s life and her involvement in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the young princes in the Tower.
In Daughter of York, Margaret of York adopts a young boy and keeps his existence a secret. In The King’s Grace this story continues as the boy becomes Perkin Warbeck. The princes in the Tower are presumed to be dead, but in the 1490s a young man appears in the European courts claiming to be Richard, duke of York, the youngest of the princes. He seeks to claim his rightful throne from England’s first Tudor king, Henry VII. Is he Richard or is he Perkin?
Smith weaves a fascinating tale around one of English history’s greatest questions: what happened to the princes in the Tower and was the pretender Perkin Warbeck one of them? Is he really the lost prince, or is he merely a pawn of Margaret of York, who is determined to regain the crown for her York family?
Using meticulous research, Smith laces together historical fact and emotional insights with a fascinating look into the life of one overlooked woman at the English court and her involvement in the mystery enshrouding Perkin Warbeck. Rich in detail and romantic possibility, The King’s Grace follows Grace’s story and her search for the truth – about herself, about her family, and about the man who claims to be king.
