Genre: History, non fiction

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Publication date: 30 September 2019

We are all aware that Henry Tudor was the founder of the Tudor dynasty. A dynasty that lasted for 122 years. The Tudors are mostly remembered for Henry VIII and Elizabeth I but how much is known about the life of Henry leading up to the famous Battle of Bosworth?

Carradice succeeds in writing this to read as a novel with excerpts of contemporary evidence thrown in. The evidence is presented how it was written including the spelling which I enjoyed reading.

Henry Tudor was a threat to the Plantagenet rule and the last hope of the Lancastrians in the War of the roses. He was exiled for 14 years and the book follows his exile to his return to England for that well known victory. Although we cannot know how Henry or Richard must have felt during this time Carradice does an excellent job of surmising. He also provides arguments for and against certain aspects of Henry’s life, for instance where did Henry’s fleet land?

The evidence is presented in a easy to read format and I enjoyed the book overall.

I did notice one error in that Carradice refers to the red rose of York and white rose of Lancaster which is the wrong way around but once past that I found this to be an informative book which I’d recommend to any fan of the Tudors.

This copy was kindly provided by NetGalley but my opinion is my own.