A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2021
‘The Red Prince announces Helen Carr as one of the most exciting new voices in narrative history.’ Dan Jones
Son
of Edward III, brother to the Black Prince, father to Henry IV and the
sire of all the Tudors. Always close to the English throne, John of
Gaunt left a complex legacy. Too rich, too powerful, too haughty… did he
have his eye on his nephew’s throne? Why was he such a focus of hate in
the Peasants’ Revolt? In examining the life of a pivotal medieval
figure, Helen Carr paints a revealing portrait of a man who held the
levers of power on the English and European stage, passionately upheld
chivalric values, pressed for the Bible to be translated into English,
patronised the arts, ran huge risks to pursue the woman he loved… and,
according to Shakespeare, gave the most beautiful of all speeches on
England.
