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DESIRE THE KINGDOM
Paula Simonds Zabka
Desire the Kingdom is a
historical novel centering on the lives of the last Plantagenet king and
queen of England who stood at the center of treason, turmoil and tragedy.
For the Queen, Anne Neville, daughter of Warwick the
Kingmaker, and wife to Richard III, life became one of survival. As she
struggles in her love for Richard, she becomes caught up in the desire of
others to claim the throne of England by treachery, deceit and murder in the
war between the Houses of York and Lancaster.
Richard III, whose name is synonymous with villainy as
depicted by Shakespeare, is presented here in a different light. Holding to
high principles of loyalty, he strives to support his king as he pursues his
love for Anne. While confronting betrayals, insurrections and family strife,
he continually fights his conscience after taking the throne, following the
death of his brother and King, Edward IV.
With a certain inevitability, the tale races to the
usurpation of the throne, the coronation of Richard III, the disappearance
of the Princes in the Tower, Anne's death on the day of a total solar
eclipse, and Richard's battle at Bosworth Field which changed English
history and initiated the Age of the Tudors.
The story teems with people who are integral to the
drama, and legends in their own right: Flamboyant characters include Edward
IV, the Golden King; Warwick the Kingmaker, pursuing his own desire for
power, George, Duke of Clarence, conniving for the crown himself; Louis XI,
the Spider King; Thomas Mallory, author of Le Mort d' Arthur;
Elizabeth Woodville, who destroyed a king; and Margaret of Anjou, who almost
destroyed a kingdom. |
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About the Author
Paula Simonds Zabka was a student of English history
and Literature, having taught in these fields after graduating from DePauw
University in Greencastle, Indiana. As an avid adventurer, she traveled the
world with her husband and daughter. But her first love was England.
Living in London while her husband was earning a post
doctoral Degree of the Imperial College, gave the author the opportunity to
do research on the Yorkist Age in which she had a special interest.
Despite three spinal surgeries, the author overcame
physical disabilities to tell the story of Anne in her struggle for
survival, and to present another side of Richard III than that portrayed by
Shakespeare. She visited every castle, cathedral and battlefield described
in her novel absorbing the sense of history that still lingered among the
fallen stones and grassy meadows.
The first half of Paula Zabka's novel is a revision of
a previous version published in England. The second half of her manuscript
was never published in England. The second half of her manuscript was never
published, and so the story was considered incomplete in the eyes of her
husband, George, and her daughter, Alisa. They were determined that the
author's entire manuscript be presented as one, and spent the past two years
rewriting her story of Richard III and Anne of Warwick to be published as a
whole in Paula's memory.
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