I said this year would be the year where I would read books and audiobooks that I would find fulfilling. Yes, I had one or two misfires, so I was a little hesitant to dive into this impulse. I find history books a tad dry so I was expecting the history of Richard II and Henry IV to be a bit of an uphill struggle.

But I devoured this! It was so compelling and engrossing. It’s a history between a king was believed himself to be above the law due to be chosen by God and slowly abusing his power and become a dictator and his cousin who overthrow him but found that the crown was heavy and struggled to undo the damage the kingdom of England found itself in.

I need to read more from this author and look into reading more non-fiction in the future.

Superbly researched and written biography of two cousins who both became kings of England.
Top class work for academics, scholars and history buffs. Magnificent.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penquin Press UK for this arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

The Eagle and the Hart is a brilliant double biography of English medieval kings Richard II and Henry IV. At once thorough and compelling, it's rich in research and detail but still has the momentum of a novel. It's by nature not the easiest read - you need to keep your concentration up through all 500+ pages to keep track of who's who - but the clear prose helps with the fluidity. Castor gives us a real insight into the personalities and the politics of the two kings, as well as the powerful figures in their courts, which both illustrates and explains how their reigns intertwine.

The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor tells the remarkable story of the rivalry between cousins Richard II and Henry IV. With birthdates just 3 months apart, Richard became king of England at the age of 10. Twenty two years later Henry deposed the despotic Richard and proclaimed himself King. It is a fascinating dual biography of a period that I knew little about prior to reading this most enjoyable and fascinating book.

Cousins born within months of each other, Richard of Bordeaux and Henry of Bolingbroke became enemies and powerful rivals. Known as Richard II and Henry IV their true stories are just as tragic as Shakespeare portrayed them and the medieval politics around their reigns is complex. Castor is a superb historian, able to find and interpret the minutiae as well as create a compelling narrative to entertain. I read this book after the Dan Jones biography of Henry V and wish I'd read them in the chronological order as they make good companion pieces.

I really enjoyed Helen Castor's The Eagle and the Hart. The dichotomy of Richard II and Henry IV makes for such an arresting read, and the way Helen Castor presents the two really captivates the nuances between their overlapping legacy. We learn about the expectations of the two of them, and the way their families both enabled and contextualised their positive/negatives attributes to the kingdom. I knew little of the two but came out with a wealth of knowledge. Castor's slow unravelling really eases the reader into feeling comfortable with the subject matter and makes it such a brilliant read.