#Sharon Kay Penman

[dangermousie]

I don’t know how I missed it but I only now found out that Sharon Kay Penman passed away in 2021.

I am in mourning now. She was one of my all time favorite novelists. Her incredibly thick and detailed novels set in various periods of medieval England and other parts of the world are my permanent reads and rereads. I have never read a book of hers that I didn’t love.

The first book of hers I’ve read was her novel about Richard III - The Sunne in Splendour - which I read and wept over in high school. I read and wept over her Welsh Trilogy in college. And then I read and wept over her other novels as an adult.

There is only one of her novels I have not read yet - her very last book - The Land Beyond the Sea, a mammoth (of course) novel about the fall of Outremer, focusing on Balian of Ibelin.

I was hoarding it because it took years between her novels and she was getting on in years and so I was worried this would be the last. And it was.

I have obviously never met her and literally know nothing about her except what’s on the blurb on the covers of the books and I still feel like crying. It’s the same sinking feeling of losing someone important though a total stranger because their books became a fabric of your life as when Dorothy Dunnett died.

PS if you’ve never read her and love incredibly solid, immersive, historically accurate novels with a huge cast of complex characters, you should read her. Though with few exceptions there are pretty much no happy endings to be had (I am pretty sure she finally created a couple of secondary fictional characters in her Welsh Trilogy so at least someone could escape the meatgrinder.)

#books #sharon kay penman

[smalltownfae]

Any recommendations for authors with a beautiful writing style that will make me feel emotional? I mean something like Robin Hobb (or even Juliet Marillier and Patricia A. McKillip). Some classic literature also have it because they used to be very dramatic with their feelings. That's what I want.

I appreciate some quotes as examples just so I can check if it's the kind of writing I am looking for.

Authors I have on the list to try already: Dorothy Dunnet, Mary Renault, Hilary Mantel, Sharon Kay Penman, Carolina de Robertis

Some examples of what I am looking for:

"The knowledge that he had left me with no intent ever to return had come over me in tiny droplets of realization spread over the years. And each droplet of comprehension brought its own small measure of hurt...He had wished me well in finding my own fate to follow, and I never doubted his sincerity. But it had taken me years to accept that his absence in my life was a deliberate finality, an act he had chosen, a thing completed even as some part of my soul still dangled, waiting for his return." (Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb)

"I did not want to think about people. I wanted the trees, the scents and colors, the shifting shadows of the wood, which spoke a language I understood. I wished I could simply disappear in it, live like a bird or a fox through the winter, and leave the things I had glimpsed to resolve themselves without me." (Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip)

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can." (Moby Dick by Herman Melville)

#robin hobb #patricia a. mckillip #herman melville #dorothy dunnet #hilary mantel #mary renault #sharon kay penman #carolina de robertis #I am trying to organize the recs according to what I asked for so I can pick accordingly in the future #I like drama queens is what it is #characters that feel very deeply #books #book recs

[nanshe-of-nina]

Favorite Historical Fiction || Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

“You’re not hurt?” He waited only for her to shake her head before he swung around to confront his son. “All your life I’ve made excuses for you, found reasons to explain away your deranged behavior. I cannot even begin to count the times I’ve overlooked your tempers, your blunders. But no more. This time you’ll answer for what you’ve done.” “But it was not my fault!” “It never is, is it? You’re always the injured innocent, never accountable for your own actions. It’s as if your entire history begins and ends with those years you spent in English prisons. Well, that was thirteen years ago, Gruffydd, and my patience has at last run out.” Senena was tugging frantically at Gruffydd’s arm. “Do not argue with him, love, I beg you. Do not say what you may later regret!” Gruffydd ignored her, did not even hear her. “Your patience? What of mine? You talk of making excuses for me. What do you think I’ve had to do for you? I’ve watched for years as you shamed yourself, shamed us all, watched and could do nothing about it. I do not know why this last surrender surprised me so. You’re so eager to stay in the good graces of the English King that nothing else matters to you…least of all, pride. I once accused her”—he pointed toward Joanna—“of bewitching you, and you denied it. But how else explain your actions? You demean yourself before the English King, allow de Burgh and Pembroke to humiliate you, to—” “That is enough, Gruffydd!” “What do you call it, if not humiliation? You can posture all you want, boast that you’re a brother sovereign of the Scots King, but the truth is that you’ve shackled us to the English throne, made us vassals of John’s son. And yet we’re likely to look back upon your reign as the Golden Age of Gwynedd, in comparison with what would befall us under Davydd! Christ, Papa, you must see him for what he is, a craven weakling, a pampered milksop who’d panic at the first hint of trouble, and yet you’d have him over me! You’d forsake your firstborn, abandon our ancient laws of inheritance, and all to please a Norman-French bedmate!” “I do see Davydd for what he is, and I see you for what you are, irresponsible and willful and foolish beyond belief. You talk of governing Gwynedd, and yet you cannot even govern your own temper. You’re a child, Gruffydd, a child at two and thirty, and it is time you faced the truth. I would never have turned Gwynedd over to you. Should evil befall Davydd in my lifetime, I’ll choose Tegwared then, or even Adda’s son. But not you, never you, for you’d blunder into a war you could never win, destroy the work of a lifetime in less than a twelvemonth.” Gruffydd was stunned. “You’d do that? You’d truly choose Tegwared over me?” “Yes.” Llewelyn’s voice was very cold. “If it came to that, I would.”

#historyedit #historical fiction #here be dragons #sharon kay penman #medieval #hf edits #joan is described as brunette in the novel but i can't picture her as anything other than a redhead

[kazz-brekker]

top most iconic/interesting bits in when christ and his saints slept that apparently actually happened in real life:

stephen of blois besieging a castle that empress matilda was in, letting her go out of a misplaced sense of gallantry once she’d surrendered, and therefore causing the entire war to drag on for years longer

empress matilda escaping stephen’s army on a whole separate occasion by dressing in a white cloak and traveling during a blizzard so she couldn’t be seen

the 14 year old future henry ii invading england with an army he put to together himself and stephen paying him to turn around and leave until he was older

john marshal barricading himself in an abbey while under attack by stephen’s forces and outlasting his enemies even when they set the abbey on fire with him inside

eleanor of aquitaine having to evade suitors while traveling through france who wanted to kidnap and forcibly marry her after her divorce from the king, instead managing to successfully marry henry ii of her own choosing

stephen taking john marshal’s youngest son hostage, threatening to hang him if his father didn’t surrender, and john marshal basically saying “go ahead and do it” because (correctly) knew that stephen wouldn’t be able to go through with murdering a child

stephen’s eldest son eustace, who refused to give up his claim to the crown even after peace had been brokered, dying on the same day that henry ii’s first son with eleanor of aquitaine was born

#history is nuts! #i love that sharon kay penman correctly understood that real history was interesting enough she didn't need to add any other drama #any ONE of these things is wild but all of them together in the same book was pretty cool #john marshal…that man was HARDCORE #pie says stuff #when christ and his saints slept #books #sharon kay penman #the anarchy #empress matilda #stephen of blois

[notsanguineatall]

Yuletide Recs, Pt 4

My last batch of recs before author reveals.

The Cruellest Month (1131 words) Fandom: The Waste Land - T. S. Eliot

A haunting, bewildering, revealing, lyrical look at recent events through the lens of Eliot. I am enchanted.

Things Janet Knows (1208 words) Fandom: The Good Place (TV)

Wonderfully perceptive (and formatted!) look at Janet's evolution over the course of the series.

The Lion in Spring (5510 words) Fandom: 12th Century RPF

Fabulous characterizations, nicely crafted worldbuilding. Honestly, you don't need to know the canon; the author gives you everything you need to know, with humor and elan to boot.

Matilda di Canossa Presents: Succession Planning for Dummies (1968 words) Fandom: Crusader Kings 3 (Video Game), 11th Century CE RPF

Trust me, you don't need to know the canon. You only have to appreciate the sound advice from this Matilda on how to best preserve the security of your realm. (Murder. The answer is murder.)

Lord of Misrule (5748 words) Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers

Bunter gets into a scrape. Peter Wimsey tries to scrape through the situation with his customary surface frivolity and it doesn't take. The first Wimsey fic I've read in ages where I genuinely felt I understood Peter as Peter rather than a caricature.

027.4 GOU — Gouldsville Libraries: A History and an Investigation (4755 words) Fandom: Our Town's Libraries - Tom Gauld (Cartoon)

The comic on which the story is based. If you have ever worked in a library, used a library, or been in the general vicinity of a library you should read this one.

the sunne in shadow (1278 words) Fandom: The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman

In the shield of darkness, Edward and Richard talk of the dead. A beautifully crafted portrait of brothers in the midst of civil war.

#ts eliot #sharon kay penman #tom gauld #dorothy l sayers #crusader kings 3 #the good place #yuletide #yuletide ao3 #yuletide 2023 #ao3 #fanfic #fic recs

[jelepermets]

Fantine, Margaret Hall II Les Misérables, Victor Hugo II Il lui ferma les yeux, Émile Bayard II The Angel's Message George Hillyard Swinstead II A King's Ransom, Sharon Kay Penman

#les miserables #les misérables #les mis letters #fantine #sharon kay penman #bern speaks

[annebrontesrequiem]

Thinking about how Sharon Kay Penman's epigraph for her book on Thomas Becket and Henry II was: "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong […] but time and chance happen to them all" (Ecc 9:11) and going absolutely mental

#like within the context of henry and thomas' relationship the epigraph rocks my world #like time and chance DO happen to them all #also dare I say name of the rose vibes when I am only 100 pages in? #sharon kay penman #bern speaks

[writerswritecompany]

Quotable – Sharon Kay Penman

Read more about the author here

#Sharon Kay Penman #Writers Write

[mercerislandbooks]

Short Take: The Drowned Woods

You could say I have a fascination with Wales. It began when I picked up Sharon Kay Penman’s Welsh Princes Trilogy as a teenager and devoured them. Historical fiction set in 13th century Wales filled with romance, royal machinations and more than one prince called Llewelyn. Totally hooked. Then I finally read Susan Cooper’s outstanding The Dark is Rising series. The last two are set in Wales, complete with a short primer on Welsh pronunciation, and I ate them up. It was in the final book of this series, Silver on the Tree, that I first heard of the Drowned Hundred, a mythical kingdom swallowed by the sea. When I caught sight of The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones, a YA historical fantasy, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a connection. Indeed, it is set in Wales and involves a heist, so I was definitely in.

Merirad (Mer) is just trying to keep her head down and escape the notice of Prince Garanhir, the man who bought her off her family when it was discovered she was a water diviner, a human touched by the fae and able to manipulate water. He raised her to be used as his weapon but when Mer couldn’t live with the damage she’d inflicted any longer, she ran. Trouble comes looking for her in the form of her old mentor, the Prince’s spymaster. Renfrew offers her the opportunity to get free of the Prince forever with one last job. Together Mer and Renfrew assemble a crew, including a young man touched by Death, the heir to the Thieves Guild and a corgi called Trefor who may or may not be a spy of the “other folk���. Their aim? A magical well on a remote island guarded by an otherworldly boar said to protect the Prince’s kingdom by holding back the sea. Plus all the treasures the well contains. Ruin Garanhir and finance their new lives all in one fell swoop.

Of course nothing is straightforward when magic and spies are involved, and the nonstop action kept me riveted. I listened to The Drowned Woods on audio, a bonus because for once I heard all the Welsh names and places as they are supposed to be pronounced instead of making my best attempt based on that long ago lesson Bran gives Will in The Grey King. Lovers of historical fantasy and fans of Six of Crows will find this a good fit. Lloyd-Jones balances tension with humor, because nothing beats a corgi that sneezes when magic is in play. And for those who have series fatigue, this is a stand-alone. Though if you want more of Lloyd-Jones’ historical fantasy Wales, you can also pick up her previous YA, The Bone Houses. A perfect escape for the end of summer!

— Lori

#island books #lori robinson #wales #the drowned woods #emily lloyd-jones #sharon kay penman #welsh princes trilogy #susan cooper #the dark is rising #the grey king #silver on the tree #the bone houses #ya historical fantasy

[richarddukeofgloucester]

Just re-reading The Sunne in Splendour, wishing for a film adaptation... several film adaptations and/or a TV series adaptation that continues to be renewed until every scene on every single page of the entire 900+ pages of the entire novel has been included along with every single historical detail that has been discovered since its publication. Thank you, @breathingwithnoheir , for pointing out that one mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger and make tremendous demands when it comes to an undertaking such as this! 

#Random #Personal #Sharon Kay Penman #RIP Sharon Kay Penman #The Sunne in Splendour #Greatest Historical Novel Ever #Well of the 20th Century at least #Enough with all the Philippa Gregory adaptations #WE DEMAND PENMAN ADAPTATIONS #Err we beg #Please

[meditative-colouring]

“Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies.”

― Sharon Kay Penman

#hey color app #hey color #colouring #colouring page #autumn #fall #country life #landscape #roads #quotes #Sharon Kay Penman

[violetcancerian]

Me once again falling back into my favorite medieval family:

#hobbit talks #andy rambles #bookblr #sharon kay penman #time and chance #the plantagenets #medieval history #historical fiction

[oldshrewsburyian]

Have you read any of Sharon Kay Penman’s novels? They aren’t bleak, and she definitely researched. My favorite is The Sunne in Splendour.

I have, yes. I respect her work more than I enjoy it.

#sharon kay penman #historical fiction #asks and answers

[bookjotter6865]

Winding Up the Week #366

An end of week recap “Poor Wales. So far from Heaven, so close to England.” – Sharon Kay Penman This is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the nightstand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings. CHATTERBOOKS >>  If you are planning a…

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#dewithon24 #ReadingWales24 #Dewithon #Diana Wynne Jones #Dido Twite Day #Dydd Gŵyl Dewi #Fantasy #Google Doodle #March Magics 2024 #Reading Wales 2024 #Red Dragon #Saint David&039;s Day #Sharon Kay Penman #Terry Pratchett

[here-be-dragons-99]

Here be dragons, by sharon kay penman

I read this book very quickly, ots very good. Its a historical reconstruction of the life of Joan, wife of llewelyn Fawr (the great), a welsh prince during the 13th century. I absolutely love the medieval history of northern europe, and if you do too you will love this novel. The historical reconstruction is done pretty well (according to my non historian eye) and made me want to learn more. The author also hase made other novels on the topic of welsh princes, but i can't tell of their quality as I have not read them. This book has a protagonist, Joan, but you will get various Povs. Very good book.

Have a good day.

#books #book review #here be dragons #sharon kay penman

[kazz-brekker]

"christ and his saints must have been hitting the snooze button an awful lot of times."

–my sister when she saw that my copy of when christ and his saints slept was nearly 800 pages long

#listen there's a lot of history to cover! #pie says stuff #pie reads #when christ and his saints slept #sharon kay penman #author