The Star of Lancaster — Jean Plaidy

HE CRAVED A CROWN--BUT HOW LITTLE HE KNEW OF THE CARES OF A KING

As bold, lusty Henry of Bolingbroke, he roused England's nobility to triumphant rebellion against the weak and unwise King Richard II, who lost first his throne and finally his life at Henry's unyielding hands.

But as Henry IV, he came to curse his own fierce ambition. Enemies called him the Usurper, a murderer of rightful royalty. The mighty Hotspur of Northumberland rallied to attack. The Welsh conspired. His friends turned traitor. And, most painfully, his own son Harry, now heir to the throne, brought only disgrace, wasting himself among lowbred company in common taverns.

Yet even as the broken Henry IV, wracked by a hideous disease, neared death, the star of the House of Lancaster burst into brilliance. For Prince Harry threw off his libertine ways and took up the scepter of power and might that would bring England to glory... and France to its knees.