About the book:

From Outlaw to Usurper, Henry Bolingbroke fought one rebellion after another.

First, he led his own uprising. Gathering support the day he returned from exile, Henry marched across the country and vanquished the forsaken Richard II. Little did he realize that his problems were only just beginning. How does a usurper prove his legitimacy? What to do with the deposed king? Only three months after he took the crown, Henry IV had to face a rebellion led by Richard’s disgruntled favorites. Worse yet, he was harassed by rumors of Richard’s return to claim the throne. His own supporters were turning against him. How to control the overweening Percies, who were already demanding more than he could give? What to do with the rebellious Welsh? After only three years, the horrific Battle of Shrewsbury nearly cost him the throne—and his life. It didn’t take long for Henry to discover that that having the kingship was much less rewarding than striving for it.

REVIEW

I hadn’t read either of the previous two books and had only a sketchy idea of the history behind this novel. I feared I might be lost and confused, but I’m happy to say I found this novel gripping and interesting and so I highly recommend this journey into the story of Henry Bolingbroke who becomes Henry IV –  King of England from 1399.

Henry came to the English throne by force. He made his cousin, Richard II, abdicate, and then seized the crown himself. This started the famous dispute between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. In The Usurper King the plot features the rivalry between Henry and the Percy family and Harry Hotspur who I dimly remembered from reading the Shakespeare play at school. This tension is what drives the narrative and provides two characters with conflicting interests.  The novel is impeccably researched from the real history and this shows. Mercedes Rochelle is a re-enactor and this is evident in all the little details that she provides that immerse the reader in the time. Even though Henry is the usurper, the author did a good job of eliciting our sympathy for him as a character. There is a lot of trouble and unrest in this book as you might expect and the author also does a good job of distinguishing who’s on who’s side. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Plantagenets and this period of history, and it was a joy to see these historical events unfold on the page.

BUT THE BOOK The Usurper King: https://books2read.com/u/3nkRJ9 

Mercedes Rochelle

Mercedes Rochelle is an ardent lover of medieval history, and has channeled this interest into fiction writing. Her first four books cover eleventh-century Britain and events surrounding the Norman Conquest of England. The next series is called The Plantagenet Legacy about the struggles and abdication of Richard II, leading to the troubled reigns of the Lancastrian Kings. She also writes a blog: HistoricalBritainBlog.com to explore the history behind the story. Born in St. Louis, MO, she received by BA in Literature at the Univ. of Missouri St.Louis in 1979 then moved to New York in 1982 while in her mid-20s to “see the world”. The search hasn’t ended! Today she lives in Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband in a log home they had built themselves.

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