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Passage to Pontefract
Passage to Pontefract
Nov 29, 2025 11:28 AM

Author:Jean Plaidy

Passage to Pontefract

Jean Plaidy's popular Plantagenet series continues with this, the tenth volume.

Richard of Bordeaux, young heir to the throne after Edward the Third, is surrounded by ambitious uncles who believe it would be better for the country if they could take the crown. While Richard shows himself capable of reckless bravery in defeating the Peasants' Revolt, his extravagance soon brings him into conflict with his people. Before long the king's most powerful opponents confront Richard and threaten to depose him.

Here is a vivid picture of Richard's court, his devotion to his favourite Robert de Vere, his love for two Queens, clever Anne and the little Isabella, and of his headlong journey towards disaster. He is determined to take his revenge on the five lords who have humiliated him, but while he succeeds with four of them, the fifth proves to be far more of a challenge. Henry of Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, is clever, subtle and absolutely set on achieving what his father had failed to ...

Reviews

It is hard to better Jean Plaidy when she's in form... both elegant and exciting as she steers a stylish path through the feuding Plantagenets

—— Daily Mirror

Blackman's emotional intelligence is such that Boys Don't Cry should be read aloud in every secondary school

—— The Times

Her writing at its best, creating characters and a story which, once read, will not easily go away

—— Independent

Blackman grapples with contemporary issues without ever letting them overwhelm the story and characterisation. A winner

—— Financial Times

This is an adroit investigation of family relations, very clearly portrayed

—— Daily Telegraph

At a time when everyone is mirroring everyone else, Enright's style of writing remains singular and instantly identifiable

—— Irish Independent

This is at once an exciting and an intelligent novel

—— Truth Magazine

A colourful story colourfully told

—— Northern Daily Record

Fondly and delicately pieces back together what the deconstructors put asunder

—— Observer

Displaying a playful exuberance wonderfully at odds with the dry, jargon-strewn tradition of academic criticism, this deft, slender volume analyses how novelists pull rabbits out of hats

—— The Economist
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