Autorenbild.

Sharon Kay Penman (1945–2021)

Autor von Here Be Dragons

20+ Werke 17,494 Mitglieder 491 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 186 Lesern

Über den Autor

Sharon Kay Penman was born in New York City on August 13, 1945. She received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers University School of Law. She worked as a tax lawyer before becoming a full-time writer. She wrote The Sunne in mehr anzeigen Splendour, which chronicled the life of Richard III, while she was a student and a tax lawyer. After finishing the manuscript, her only copy was stolen from her car. She eventually rewrote the book and it was published in 1982. Her other works include Here Be Dragons, The Reckoning, When Christ and His Saints Slept, The Queen's Man, Cruel as the Grave, Dragon's Lair, Prince of Darkness, Lionheart and A King's Ransom. She won the 2001 Career Achievement Award for Historical Mysteries from Romantic Times. (Bowker Author Biography) weniger anzeigen
Bildnachweis: © William Penman, Jr.

Reihen

Werke von Sharon Kay Penman

Here Be Dragons (1985) 2,566 Exemplare
The Sunne in Splendour (1982) 2,375 Exemplare
When Christ and His Saints Slept (1994) 2,068 Exemplare
Falls the Shadow (1988) 1,512 Exemplare
The Reckoning (1991) 1,348 Exemplare
Time and Chance (2002) 1,321 Exemplare
The Queen's Man (1996) 1,286 Exemplare
Cruel as the Grave (1998) 986 Exemplare
Devil's Brood (2008) 944 Exemplare
Lionheart (2011) 896 Exemplare
Dragon's Lair (2003) 834 Exemplare
Prince of Darkness (2005) 668 Exemplare
A King's Ransom (2014) 472 Exemplare
The Land Beyond the Sea (2020) 207 Exemplare

Zugehörige Werke

Dangerous Women (2013) — Mitwirkender — 1,114 Exemplare
Dangerous Women 2 (2014) — Mitwirkender — 92 Exemplare

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Wissenswertes

Gebräuchlichste Namensform
Penman, Sharon Kay
Geburtstag
1945-08-13
Todestag
2021-01-22
Geschlecht
female
Nationalität
VS
Geburtsort
New York, New York, VS
Sterbeort
Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
Todesursache
pneumonia
Wohnorte
New York, New York, USA
New Jersey, USA
Ausbildung
University of Texas, Austin (BA ∙ History)
Rutgers University (JD)
Berufe
lawyer
historical novelist
Agent
Molly Friedrich (Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency)
Mic Cheetham (Anthony Sheil Associates, Ltd.)
Kurzbiographie
Sharon Kay Penman was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. She majored in history at the University of Texas at Austin, and received a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law. She worked as a tax lawyer before becoming a writer. While still a student, she started to research and write her first novel, The Sunne in Splendour (1982), a fictional account of the life of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III of England. However, after the only copy of her manuscript was stolen from her car, she was devastated and gave up writing for several years. Eventually she was inspired to begin again, and 12 years later, while practicing law at the same time, had produced the 936-page novel. In the early 1980s, she began publishing the "Welsh Trilogy" of historical novels set in medieval Wales. It was followed by the "Plantagenet series," novels about the life of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1996, she published the first in a series of medieval mystery novels, The Queen's Man. It was named a finalist for an Edgar Award for Best First Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America.

Mitglieder

Diskussionen

Rest in Peace Sharon Kay Penman in Historical Fiction (September 2021)
Chronological Sharon Kay Penman Books Challenge in Historical Fiction (August 2021)
Sharon Kay Penman in Historical Fiction (Februar 2017)
GROUP READ: Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman in 2013 Category Challenge (November 2013)
GROUP READ: Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman in 2013 Category Challenge (September 2013)
2013 GROUP READ Dicussion - When Christ and His Saints Slept in 2013 Category Challenge (Februar 2013)

Rezensionen

I admit it: I probably would have rated this book a star or so higher if I hadn't gone into it with such high expectations. I adore Bujold's Vorkosigan series, and I was expecting to really like this. But... eh. It never captured me, and while I grew to appreciate the world she created, it never excited or intrigued me. I fully predicted a handful of the major plot points.

The plot is original, and while the characters never spring to life, they aren't obnoxious. In the end, though, I just didn't really enjoy reading it. (It did make me want to go back and reread all the Vorkosigan books from start to finish, though!)… (mehr)
 
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caedocyon | 20 weitere Rezensionen | Feb 23, 2024 |
Beautifully done. This sweeping historical novel about the Plantagenets and the War of the Roses provided a different look at the all to brief reign of England's Richard III and the earlier, longer reign of his older brother, Edward IV. Most of what has come down to us in history derives from the Tudors' "winner's history," but Ms. Penman has excavated contemporaneous writings from the period of the Plantagenet reign to give life to and a very different dimension to that family.
 
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bschweiger | 74 weitere Rezensionen | Feb 4, 2024 |
 
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mrsnickleby | 74 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 18, 2024 |
I have meant for some years to read this author's long novel about Richard III, so when this one instead appeared in a charity shop was tempted. I didn't know much about the period it covers other than remembering that the war between King Stephen and Empress/would-be Queen Maude (aka Matilda) forms the background to the Cadfael series by Ellis Peters.

I enjoyed this book in parts, principally when the scenes developed naturally with some nice interaction between historical characters such as Henry, future King, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. And the book was educational as I certainly know more about the period than beforehand. I wasn't so keen on the huge chunk that revolved around the imaginary character Ranulf and his friends/relations and his strung out hopeless love affair. I can see the point of putting such a character in scenes to interact with the real historical characters, to give a third party onlooker with whom the reader can identify and who can perhaps help to convey key facts, but there were extended interludes based around this character's misadventures elsewhere. I felt that the section in Wales was put in to allow the author to display her research about medieval Welsh society. In an already very long book, Ranulf's interactions away from the historical events must have added at least 200 pages of padding.

I also wasn't keen on certain aspects of the book's structure. There was a repeated style of scene where characters are discussing the events of the day and then someone bursts in, either with a message or to announce the arrival of a messenger. This was repeated so often I came to expect it whenever people were sitting down having a discussion. It made for a certain staleness and sense of deja vu. There were also quite a few places where someone explains all about something or someone to another character in an extended infodump, quite often done between made up characters who only appear for that purpose.

I also appreciate that there were a lot of characters in the real history, and many had the same or similar names, but it did get quite confusing at times and I just couldn't remember who someone from among the minor characters was, especially if they had been out of the picture for a few chapters. The list of characters at the start of the book only lists the main ones plus Ranulf and his invented friends and relations.

These issues made it a bit of a struggle to get through the book although I did persevere as I did want to know what happened and found the character of the future Henry II attractive. Therefore my overall rating balances out at 3 stars.

… (mehr)
 
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kitsune_reader | 61 weitere Rezensionen | Nov 23, 2023 |

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