Name: The Princes in the Tower (Rkpg)
ISBN: 9780345391780

Alison Weir

Offers a solution to the centuries-old mystery of the fate of the boy king Edward V and his younger brother, who were believed killed by their uncle, Richard III

The Princes in the Tower (Rkpg)

Kirsten Simkiss

I am not usually someone who enjoys reading books about history. However, as I knew nothing on the topic, I figured I would give this one a read.

I did enjoy parts. The political intrigue of the story surrounding these two murdered children is fascinating and you can see who would benefit from the deaths of these two young boys. However, this is just one opinion based on the facts given to historians, and a lot of assumptions have to be made based on incomplete understandings of the times due to missing papers or incidents only put to pen by impartial viewpoints.

I felt this book failed to focus on the boys themselves. It would be more accurate to say that the book should have been titled, “The Rise and Fall of King Richard III”. Most of the book is devoted to how the adults reacted surrounding Edward IV’s heir and was more a history of the succession of the throne than an intense study of the princes that were murdered.

Do I think Richard murdered his nephews? Yes, though I think it’s very likely he had someone else do it for him. 

All in all, I give the book 3 stars. It was informative, but ultimately lacked focus and I found it difficult to read because of the dry tone.

Anna Pinto

Weir is at her best in her History titles. Really, really detailed and very compelling. Revisionists are delusional :)

The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most fascinating murder mysteries in English history. It is a tale with profound moral and social consequences, rich in drama, intrigue, treason, scandal and violence. In this gripping book Alison Weir re-examines all the evidence - including that against the Princes' uncle, Richard III, whose body was recently discovered beneath a Leicester car park. She brilliantly reconstructs the whole chain of events leading to their murder and reveals how, why and by whose order they died.