Sharon Kay Penman started the research for her novel about the life of Richard III in 1968, when she was studying history at the University of Texas at Austin. Four years later she had moved on to a law degree at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. One day, while carrying belongings into a new apartment, she left the only copy of her 400-page manuscript in an unlocked car. It took five years to recover from the shock, during which time she qualified and started working as a lawyer in Los Angeles. “To my amazement, the words started to come and didn’t stop,”

Source: The Times March 25, 2021 17:03 UTC