Synopsis
AN EPIC FEMINIST RETELLING OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES
1431 is a dangerous time for a woman to be defiant.
England has been fighting France for 100 years. At home, power-hungry men within a corrupt government manipulate a weak king - and name Cecily's husband, York's loyal duke, an enemy. As the king's grasp on sanity weakens, plots to destroy York take root... It will take all of Cecily's courage and cunning to save her family. But when the will to survive becomes ambition for a crown, will she risk treason to secure it? Inside closed bedchambers and upon bloody battlefields, Cecily portrays war as women fight it.
__________ ACCLAIM FOR CECILY
"A startling heroine" Sarah Moss, Summerwater
"A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses" Imogen Hermes Gower, The Mermaid and Mr Hancock
"Wolf Hall for the 2020s" Manda Scott, Boudica
"Absorbing" Times
"Has the new Hilary Mantel arrived?" Sunday Telegraph
"Masterful and majestic; England's unspoken history told by one brilliant woman through the life of another. This important novel blazes on every page from its brutal first scene to its glittering final act" Chris Cleave, author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven
"Entirely absorbing and utterly compelling. Fifteenth century England leaps from the page, with all its political turmoil and bloodshed. I loved it" Caroline Lea, author of The Glass Women
"Masterfully written and wholly immersive, with characters that live and breathe. Cecily is a tour de force. I loved every sentence" Joanne Burn, author of The Hemlock Cure
"Annie Garthwaite writes about the past with the sort of intimacy, immediacy and empathy that can only come from graft and craft" Toby Clements, author of Kingmaker
"BLOODY GREAT. So modern, so political, it could almost be set in Downing Street' KATE SAWYER, author of The Stranding
"Shines a light into a dark corner of our history and reclaims the voice and story of a powerful and forgotten woman" Liz Hyder, author of The Gifts
"An extraordinary achievement . . .I could touch and breathe Cecily's world as if I was walking in her shadow" Carol McGrath, author of The Silken Rose
"Impeccably researched, written with style and shot through with energy, heart and power. A perfectly paced tale of intrigue, influence and victory wrenched from defeat. Cecily has been overlooked for centuries. Not anymore" AJ West, author of The Spirit Engineer
About the Author
Annie Garthwaite grew up in a working-class community in the north-east of England. She studied English at the University of Wales before embarking on a thirty-year international business career. In 2017 she returned to her first love, books, and set out to write the story of a woman she had always felt drawn to: Cecily Neville. This became her debut novel, Cecily.
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