A Princely Knave

This is the story of a hopeless cause, the story of Perkin Warbeck, remembered as a notorious pretender to the English throne. A man who risked all to be known as Richard Plantagenet - Prince Richard, the second son of King Edward IV. Was Perkin Warbeck, as he claimed, Richard of York, the rightful heir to the throne won by Henry VII on Bosworth Field? Or was he simply another unscrupulous adventurer who revelled in the threat of rebellion, played for high stakes and lost? Philip Lindsay explores with sincerity and imagination of one of the most fascinating personalities in English history. He describes Perkin's futile attempt to rouse the West Country against the King and his inevitable fate. He tells also the tragic story of Perkin's wife, Lady Katherine Gordon who, in love with but half-despising her husband, risked her freedom for him and found herself drawn remorselessly into the grim drama. Philip Lindsay (1906-1958) was a member of one of Australia's most prominent literary and artistic families. He left Sydney in 1929 and landed in Liverpool with 5s in his pocket. He eked out a meagre existence while writing his first novel, Panama Is Burning. He followed that with Here Comes The King which proved an overnight success and the first of many best-selling historical novels. In all, Lindsay wrote 39 novels and various works of history and biography in addition to working closely with the late Sir Alexander Korda on many films.