Once upon a time there was really a woman named Katherine Haute who received an annuity from Richard of Gloucester. Based on this scant information, Anne Easter Smith created the Katherine Haute of “A Rose for the Crown,” as the woman who was the unknown mother of Richard III’s illegitimate children, a woman to whom many believe he was faithful before marrying Anne Neville. Anne’s rise from a lowly girl on a farm to the mistress of the Duke of Gloucester seems implausible, but was presented in a way that seems possible.

Overall this was a good read. Kate was an interesting character and her love affair with Richard was sweet. Unfortunately, it suffered a bit for me having been read in the same quarter as “The Sunne in Splendor.” “A Rose for the Crown” was well done, and was an entertaining way to engage with the history surrounding Richard – I think it is an interesting lens through which to view Richard – but it just didn’t feel quite as hardy as ” The Sunne in Splendor.”

If you are a fan of historical fiction, read both this and “The Sunne in Splendor.” Just make sure to read this first, or to wait a year or so between books. ( )

This is a particularly good historical novel. Reactions are likely to be somewhat shaded by what one thinks about Richard III. This is a pro-Richard novel.

Independent of historical politics, it is an extremely rich and vivid novel. The main character is the mother of Richard's illegitimate children. While Richard is the love of her life, she knows that she needs to have her own independent existence, especially after he marries Anne Neville.

Highly recommended. ( )

I liked the book, although I found it a little too long, and too long winded in her descriptions of everyday life ( )

In this novel, Easter creates a character, Kate Haute, who is the mother of Richard's illegitimate children. The character is entirely fictional and the story, while occasionally insipid, is a pleasant enough read. The author credits "Daughter of Tyme" as her inspiration; a novel written some years ago which defended Richard and made a convincing case that he did not have his two boy nephews murdered in order to secure his throne. If the subject is of interest, I would defintely recommend "Daughter of Tyme" rather than this book. ( )

A Rose for the Crown is an ambitious first novel. Here Anne Easter Smith tells the story of Richard III--from another point of view.

The book is the story of Richard's mistress, called Katherine Haute. It is known that Richard had at least three illegitimate children, but history is fuzzy as to who their mother was. Smith surmises that Richard had one mistress that he was faithful to for a certain period of time that he then gave up when he married Anne Neville. Katherine Haute is fictional, but the world she lives in is not, and Smith is adept at telling a rich historical story in a way that so few historical fictional novelists can these days.

Kate Haute, born to a farmer, endures two unpleasant marriages before meeting Richard one day in the woods. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and Kate become lovers, eventually having three children together. Their love story is at the heart of this wonderful novel, with the War of the Roses merely playing the role of backdrop. Richard stays completely faithful to Kate during their affair, only leaving her when he marries. However, he continues to support the children for long afterwards.

What's interesting about this story is that Richard is not the tyrant he appears to be in Shakespeare's play. Rather, Smith argues, he was a gentle, kind man who was prone to sudden bouts of bad temper. Shakespeare placed heavy emphasis on the murders of Richard's two nephews, but Smith tells the story a different way, saying that it was not Richard who ordered their deaths, but one of his close friends who betrayed him. I only know about Richard III through fiction, and not historical fact, so its difficult to determine which is a more accurate portrayal. I tend to think that neither is particularly truthful. A much better book than this is Sharon Kay Penman’s Sunne in Splendour. ( )