The Wars of the Roses, reimagined: A Woman’s Story
- aksmith304
- Jul 7, 2024
- 2 min read
I'll make one more mention of the Triannual Conference of the Richard III Society back in April, as it did introduce me to some great historical fiction. While there, I was also fortunate enough to meet Annie Garthwaite, whose novel Cecily allows us to revisit the fifteenth century from the perspective of a powerful, independent woman. The subject, Cecily Neville (1415-1495), was firstly the Duchess of York and later the mother of two kings. Her story encompasses the final years of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France (1337-1453) and dominates the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487). History, or indeed herstory is reimagined here with a very viable, if often previously overlooked central protagonist.
Cecily was published in 2021 so I am a little late to the party. But as with Jennifer C. Wilson last time, sitting and chatting to Annie over a glass of wine led me to understand what I had been missing. I am pretty well versed in the history of the period – I have had good reason to read many books, fiction and otherwise, about Richard III and most take in the full period of the ‘Cousin’s War’. This includes Philippa Gregory’s series on prominent women of the time, but I have notably never encountered Cecily, or anyone quite like her, before.
A feisty, ambitious woman in a happy and equal marriage, she hovers on the margins of power as the English empire in France disintegrates during the reign of the sickly and ineffectual Henry VI. Both she and her husband, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, could claim royal descent from Edward III and doubtless much of the instability of the period stems from the fact that so many of the nobility of England could do the same. While Garthwaite allows the reader to see the far-reaching implications of this, for much of the novel, the key men are facing off and battling each other elsewhere. This is a genuine and compelling woman’s perspective, showing an alternative female community, but it is not without frontline action. The novel begins with a teenage Cecily witnessing the execution of Joan of Arc, a macabre test of the young Duchess’s resilience. Years later, she stands firm with her three youngest children around her, as Lancastrian troops flood into her castle at Ludlow, pillaging and destroying as they search for her attainted husband. Not long after that, she is the force that keeps the gates of London closed on Marguerite of Anjou’s army, ensuring the city’s safety for the return of her triumphant son.
Cecily is not a woman to be messed with, ambitious, not always sympathetic, but with absolute conviction of the royal prominence of her dynasty. Convincingly written and impeccably researched, this novel is a winner. The sequel, The King’s Mother comes out next Thursday (11th July) and I will be looking forward to reading all about the second half of Cecily’s long life.
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