This book is a poetic odyssey through the life, death and ‘resurrection’ of that most maligned of English kings: Richard III. It involves the reader in his betrayal, death and physical mutilation at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485; his hurried burial at Greyfriars in Leicester; and, later, the destruction of Richard’s reputation both by Tudor historians, and, last but not least, by the Great Bard himself.

The poetry then moves on to the remarkable discovery and identification of his bones under a now famous Leicester car park in 2012, with Richard showing his exasperation at how his DNA was used to determine his lifestyle; and his satisfaction at lying in peace after his final journey from Bosworth Field to be laid to rest in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

We then read of the incredible power this event gave to the local football team, Leicester City, who started to win all their matches to escape relegation, and, in the following season, ended up winning the Premier League at odds of 500/1. This culminated in Richard’s resurrection in the aptly named King Power Stadium in 2016.

Next we feel sympathy for Richard’s family: first his mother who outlived him and even witnessed her great grandson, the future Henry VIII; and then his family of brothers whose feuds rocked the kingdom during the Wars of the Roses. The reader is then introduced to an Alternate History involving Richard’s son Arthur marrying Catherine of Aragon, with the York/Plantagenet line continuing down to our present monarch Richard XIV.

Finally, there are stories and myths related to this much-maligned English king, including the real reason why Shakespeare turned him into his arch-villain, and his meeting up with King Harold II, the only other English king to die in battle.