THE WINTER OF DISCONTENT
1486
A time of treachery-brother against brother
—as Richard III takes possession of the throne
of England, and the Houses of Lancaster and York threaten to split the country in civil war. As storm clouds rise over Richard's embittered reign, two young princes are murdered in their beds. And kinsmen are banished or beheaded in a land plagued by fear and suspicion.
1986
Beneath Westminster Abbey, two archaeologists discover the writings of a Cistercian monk
from the fifteenth century. As they painstakingly decipher the manuscript of Richard's most trusted servant, heinous crimes of state are revealed in horrifying detail. The parchments portray Richard in a new light, not at all the sadistic and evil monarch described by Shakespeare and others, but a tragically embattled king, less a villain and more the victim of betrayal by family and friends. He led the last battle of the Wars of the Roses and marched into history... alone.