The Lost Prince: The Survival of Richard of York

The author has a lively writing style, but I found this book far less convincing in its arguments than his biography of Elizabeth Woodville. My suspicions were aroused when in the opening chapter he said that an impartial survey on the supposed survival of Richard must include the "evidence" provided by a spiritual medium. Although that low point was not plumbed in the main part of the book, the theory the author presents is wafer thin, too thin to make a whole book - the main text is only 150 pages and that is padded out with a fair amount of only tangentially relevant historical detail. He is too inclined to treat ambiguities in the sources as the foundation for a whole tower of speculation, which is all he really has. I am not sure show more whether the author even really believes it himself; it reads as though it is a mere exercise in speculative argumentation. show less

Slightly disappointed with this as it could have been so much better. The main argument in the book would have been better suited to a journal or short thesis. In book form there was a lot of padding and not enough evidence to support the authors claims. Worth reading, however.