The King's Grave

The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds

By: Philippa Langley, Michael Jones

Narrated by: Corrie James

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

On 22 August 1485, Richard III was killed at Bosworth Field, the last king of England to die in battle. His victorious opponent, Henry Tudor (the future Henry VII), went on to found one of our most famous ruling dynasties. Richard's body was displayed in undignified fashion for two days in nearby Leicester and then hurriedly buried in the church of the Greyfriars. Fifty years later, at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the king's grave was lost - its contents believed to be emptied into the river Soar - and Richard III's reputation buried under a mound of Tudor propaganda. Its culmination was Shakespeare's compelling portrayal of a deformed and murderous villain, written over a hundred years after Richard's death. Now - in an incredible find - Richard III's remains have been uncovered beneath a car park in Leicester. The King's Grave traces this remarkable journey. In alternate chapters, Philippa Langley, whose years of research and belief that she would find Richard in this exact spot inspired the project, reveals the inside story of the search for the king's grave, and historian Michael Jones tells of Richard's fifteenth-century life and death. The result is a compelling portrayal of one of our greatest archaeological discoveries, allowing a complete re-evaluation of our most controversial monarch - one that discards the distortions of later Tudor histories and puts the man firmly back into the context of his times.

©2013 Philippa Langley and Michael Jones (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A solid, perceptive work that rights historical injustices." ( Publishers Weekly)

Process of discovery + a history lesson

What did you love best about The King's Grave?

The forensic investigation of Richard's battle wounds.

Who was your favorite character and why?

No characters

What three words best describe Corrie James’s voice?

Polite and professional. She is a fast narrator though. Sometimes her telling of history was rapid fire

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Discovering the Real Richard the III

Any additional comments?

The book is average. I'm a big history fan so I enjoyed learning about the intricacies of the history. I also enjoyed the analysis of Richard's body. But, I was expecting something else out of this book.

Interesting story of discovery

For any anglophile who watched this mystery unfold on TV, this behind the scenes bit of the discovery will be fascinating. I certainly didn't imagine that there were such zany factors involved in finding Richard. This was a delight to listen to for many reasons. The insertion of the history is helpful too, but I still think he killed the princes in the tower!

An interesting archeological treasure hunt

The history and its interpretation was interesting but a bit repetitive. The archeology was fascinating and top notch. Was Richard III a nice guy….who knows.

Excellent work

I was disappointed as I thought this would start out more ABOUT Richard III and WHY she believes he was slandered (he was). But at the beginning it’s literally just a parade of forgettable, once mentioned names of directors, media contacts and other random patrons.
Not a great way to start, it’s like the book was written back to forward. It does get to actual history….eventually.
A few reviews talk about her ‘weird obsession/attraction to Richard’ or her ‘view that he was perfect with rainbows and kittens’…which…she doesn’t.
She makes very clear he was a man, good and bad, but wanted a more unbiased view of him. She makes this point several times…
Which I guess pissed some people off as ‘obsessed’ and ‘whitewashing’…???? She is concerned about having him placed accurately and accountable in his own time…
I mean geez an entire appendix is dedicated to ‘arguments for Richard’s complicity in the murder of the princes”…..
I guess if you’re invested in a myth you get fussy if anyone dares contradict it’s legitimacy and validity.
It’s funny how the same ppl complaining about her softened and more balanced viewpoint are the same ones seeing him only as an evil Shakespearean villain…and totally ignore the facts of lineage and actions.

interesting history lesson

What did you love best about The King's Grave?

The in depth history of how the search for Richard's bones came into being. The author spent a considerable amount of time making sure that the dig really happened.

Which scene was your favorite?

The historical tie in to the dig and what brought Richard to Bosworth Field.

Any additional comments?

A wonderful book to bring forth conversation about the life and times of the last Plantegant warrior king of England.

Everything I Hoped For

Well-written account of Richard’s life and death, and the search for his grave. Thoroughly enjoyable, well-reasoned defence of a rationale re-evaluation of Richard III’s reign and actions. Excellent narration.

Finding the remains of Richard III and restoring his reputation

This co-authored work is compelling, well written, and well narrated--though in my view the sections written by Michael Jones ought probably to have been in a male voice. Author Langley's emphasis on her intuitions in some measure diminishes the quality of her research, but the discovery of "the king in the car park" would never have happened without these intuitions, and she tells an exciting tale.

The research!

The
chronology of the research to actual discovery is incredibly exciting . In particular, the overcoming of obstacles and the efforts of so may to block it.

The Black Sheep is Positive

Would you consider the audio edition of The King's Grave to be better than the print version?
I didn't read the print edition. I specifically opted for the audio edition because I can't always take the time to read something long.

What did you like best about this story?
I've quickly read all the other reader's reviews currently posted. I was surprised that all of them completely missed the point of why and how Langley did what she did. A couple were completely unkind, uncharitable and bordered on whinging. Everyone's a critic when they're reviewing someone else's work which they could never even imagine themselves doing.

I'd be surprised if any of the readers have the slightest clue about how difficult it is to write *and* get published a great book, or how difficult it is to do what Langley did. I wish for those reviewers a review of their own work, in their own field, which focuses on everything they did incorrectly to exclusion of the grand things they accomplished.

In an overwhelmingly reductionistic, scientistic world which first denies what's happening to keep both facts and the moment at bay, *not one* reviewer mentioned the astounding means by which Richard III's grave was found. Not one mentioned the nail-biting drama and whose reputations were at stake, or what Langley felt as she pushed forward a project based in her intuition.

No, I'm not a fan of Ricardian history. In fact I skipped over most of those bits because I don't need to know much about him or his legacy. I didn't listen to the book for that. Instead, I wanted a feeling for what Langley went through, against all odds, and *how* she did things. I *loved* the details she included about that. I hung on every word of it, and would love that she might write more like this about different projects.

Most of us spend so much time doing what we think other people expect of us we forget what it's like to make our own lives and dreams. Langley lived her dream. Only a few of us have the courage and perseverance to do that.

Have you listened to any of Corrie James’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No. But she's very British and understandable in her delivery. I found her cadence pretty good.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me cry tears of joy over what Langley and her team accomplished, because of how they did what they did.

I really wanted to like it

I love Cousin's War / Plantagenet history so despite the reviews I decided to try this. Honestly I felt almost dirty - like the author was in love with Richard II. Her appreciation / obsession around him was like she and he had a relationship and maybe they did in her mind.

As discussed by other reviews she went out of her way to excuse his gruesome climb to being king and blamed everything on the Woodville's and Tudor's for his power grab. And of course Richard had nothing to do with the death of the two Princes but if he did it was because those mean Woodville's tried to break them out of jail.

The book also asserts that Richard did all of this because his mother was raped - now no one has ever proven any of this that I am aware so you actually spend more time on the "heroic Richard" who probably had birds signing around him and his halo and how she proved via handwriting assessments that he was not a sociopath (lets be honest anyone that was in power at this time in history probably had to have a strong stomach).

I really wanted more about the dig and less of the one sided love story. I finished it and will not be listening again. But if you can stomach 2/3rds of the book the 1/3 was pretty good