Sharon Kay Penman

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Sharon Kay Penman (b. August 13, 1945 in New York) is an American historical novelist, of Anglo-Irish ancestry. She is well known for her novels and mysteries about English and Welsh royalty during the Middle Ages.

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[edit] Career

Penman received her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin, she majored in history, and also received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Rutgers University School of Law, and later worked as a tax lawyer. Currently, Penman suffers from mononucleosis[1].

Penman's twist on history is to take a minor figure who actually existed, but of whom little is known beyond their name, and makes them the protagonist in the story. Her research is thorough; most of the events she describes have a basis in historical sources and mentions in the author's note if they are otherwise untrue.

The Sunne in Splendour, a novel about Richard III of England is one of the most popular books on the Historical Novel Society's list of best historical novels. In 1996, following the success of When Christ and His Saints Slept (which dealt with the Anarchy and the early career of King Henry II of England), Penman ventured into the historical whodunnit with two mysteries set in the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine during the reign of Richard I. The mysteries did not enjoy the same success as her "straight" historical novels, to which she returned in 2002, with Time and Chance, again covering the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II. Two further mysteries have followed.

In UK editions of her books, Penman has now dropped the middle name "Kay" and the initial which she originally used.

[edit] Books

[edit] Welsh Princes

  1. Here Be Dragons (1985)
  2. Falls the Shadow (1988)
  3. The Reckoning (1991)

[edit] Justin de Quincey (mystery series)

  1. The Queen's Man (1996)
  2. Cruel as the Grave (1998)
  3. Dragon's Lair (2003)
  4. Prince of Darkness (2005)

[edit] Eleanor of Aquitaine

  1. When Christ and His Saints Slept (1995)
  2. Time and Chance (2002)
  3. The Devil's Brood (announced for 2008)

[edit] Standalone novels

  • The Sunne in Splendour (1982)

[edit] External links

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