“I was a longtime admirer of her writing and was hugely flattered when she published an appreciation of my work,” said Bernard Cornwell, the author of his own long list of historical best sellers, including, most recently, “War Lord” (2020). She offered advice to unpublished writers, sent critiques of their drafts and wrote blurbs once their work appeared. Penman was likewise appreciated by other historical novelists as a mentor and advocate. “She told me many times, ‘Don’t forget who’s reading your books,’” said Steve Berry, the author of the forthcoming historical novel “The Kaiser’s Web.” Penman brought a few readers with her on a trip to Jerusalem to do research for “The Land Beyond the Sea,” her last book, published in 2020. Before the internet made finding obscure history books easy, she would scour secondhand shops in England, shipping home boxes and boxes of texts, amassing a library of several thousand volumes.

Penman loaded her novels with material she gathered from years of research, both on the ground in Britain and in the stacks at the University of Pennsylvania library, near her home. Starting with her first book, “ The Sunne in Splendour” (1982), about King Richard III, Ms. “She was a diligent scholar, but she was able to write accessible books that were real page-turners.” “She was a giant in the field,” said Margaret George, the author of historical novels like “The Splendor Before the Dark,” about the Roman emperor Nero. Penman Jr., said the cause was pneumonia. Sharon Kay Penman, a former tax lawyer whose best-selling epics about medieval England and Wales drew legions of admirers for her meticulous research and commitment to historical facts, died on Jan.

The Reckoning by Sharon Kay Penman