So what *is* this book? It’s a Masterclass in vulnerability. It’s written by someone who is skilled at showing others humor and joy, but can’t find either herself because life isn’t always a 90 minute sketch comedy show, especially lately. Specifically, here’s why I loved this book…with intentional vagueness to avoid spoilers… Judging by the actual technical skill of the writing, it’s awesome. The prose is gorgeous. It does something sound more “modern” than I’d expect a historical novel to but those moments are relatively few. Garthwaite’s writing is evocative and illuminative. But it’s also matched by a tight, tense plot that verges into a political thriller. It’s a compelling, taut read. I took it more slowly than I could have because I wanted to savour the book but I could’ve read this book within a day or two. There are genuinely harrowing, emotional moments – I was moved to tears, I had a pit in my stomach. I took photos of some passages so I could keep rereading them. She also gets very real about her relationships with her family and with significant others. She doesn't stay on the surface, she tells it like it was, like it is, and I admire her so much for putting that out there. The way she had relationships that weren't the best, but they had moments in them that mattered and they will stay with her, even though she couldn't stay with them.

Consider these thoughts, on the artistic debt she owes to her novelist mother. “My painting is really close to my mum’s writing. The very visual nature of her writing, its surreal nature, had a big influence on me.”Velvet on velvet… It seems the scents of an Italian summer are trapped in its folds, or that, by some magic, the tiny marguerites patterned in its alternating depths carry the perfume of true flowers.” Left to right: Annie’s agent Imogen Pelham, Annie, Annie’s partner Caroline Bennett, Annie’s sister in law Susan Bennett And here was I, as usual the odd one out. Since Pa had died, I'd managed to find nothing except a new and more reliable dealer. Even though I was by far the most financially successful sister… what was the point when I hadn't a clue what else I wanted to do?'

Cecily is a brilliant character. She's pragmatic, ruthless, loving, brave, and intelligent. The author did a great job of taking some aspects of her character that would be fairly unusual these days (her fervent religious beliefs) and make them seem authentic, and also take concepts that we're more familiar with talking about now (like post natal depression) and explore them in a historical context. Many of the other characters felt well rounded as well. Annie Garthwaite from Shropshire had never written a book before but after being obsessed with Cecily since childhood, she decided if she did not write the novel at age 55 she never would and so she spent the next three years pouring her soul into a childhood dream. Because Richard is a traitor’s son, they must first establish his loyalty and competence before the crown will formally grant him the estates. This task is not an easy one when the king is weak and listens to the last voice he hears. Those voices belong to a tight circle of favorites who jealously guard access to the king and who are hostile to the Yorks. The book is very effective in portraying the escalation of tensions between the king’s favorites and York, who, despite his competent governance of France, is shunted off to Ireland. In terms of historical accuracy, I only caught two main things. The first was having Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester in France for the burning of Joan of Arc and Henry VI’s coronation in Paris. He was in England the entire time, he left France in 1422 and didn’t return until 1436 to relieve Calais. He had nothing whatsoever to do with Joan of Arc and he was Regent of England while Henry VI was in France for his coronation. Having said that, I can understand it – these first chapters set up the major figures of Henry VI’s minority and Cecily and York’s relationship with them and the situation with France very well.

This Cecily Neville is ambitious and politically astute; capable and influential. She is a political animal first and foremost. She and her husband, Richard, the third Duke of York are a well-matched pair, equal partners in love, politics and war. Even their pillow talk is dominated by their political plans. They will establish two administrative centers: Ludlow in the west with its vast revenues from their Mortimer estates and Fotherinhay in the east to manage their English holdings. In each place, Cecily tells her husband, they will build a church as “great engines of prayer for the house York.” And Cecily’s duty is to bear children—the coins of her purse—to build the house. Befitting the time-warped year of 2020, the diary-like approach deftly weaves together the present and the past. Strong chronicles the challenges of beginning a relationship during the pandemic and the fear when her new boyfriend contracts COVID. She describes the pain of losing her friend and longtime Saturday Night Live staff member Hal Willner to the virus. She reflects on formative events from her life, including how her high school expulsion led to her pursuing a career in theater and, years later, landing at SNL . I also dealt with grief in 2020 and it did make the pandemic all the more scary and lonely. It still does. Losing someone is very hard, especially when you convinced yourself it would not happen. When you believed it would all be okay and it turns out that it isn't. I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" this connection to her words, but somehow it helps to know you were not and are not alone in those thoughts and feelings. Together Cecily and Richard make a formidable team with Cecily becoming more involved in events than would normally be expected of a wife. Not that she isn’t also expected to carry out the duties of a wife – running a large household and bearing children, preferably male heirs or, if not, daughters who can be used to make profitable alliances. The perils of childbirth are vividly depicted and, in fact, Cecily’s involvement in the political manouverings provides a distraction from her grief. ‘It has saved her, these past weeks, to be at the centre of his stratagems, poring over maps, drawing up plans, deciding the appointments of officers; weighing up men’s competence and ambition, where they will serve best and how far they can be trusted.’ Trust turns out to be a rare commodity.

This cookie is set by the provider mookie1.com. This cookie is used for serving the user with relevant content and advertisement. And then there’s the characterisations. They’re complex, they’re nuanced, the characters are allowed to be grey rather than rigidly good or bad – a common problem in a lot of woman-centric historical fiction set in this era. Cecily herself is massively flawed, snobby, a bit nasty and judgemental. This is “Proud Cis” alright. The novel takes the reader into the world of Cecily plunging them into the closed bedchambers and bloody battlefields of the first days of the Wars of the Roses, a war as women fight it.

But maybe, she suggests, the worst year of your life can also be the best year of your life. I really hope so, for all of us. In 'Cecily', debut author Annie Garthwaite offers a vivid retelling of the first stages of the fifteenth-century Wars of the Roses, through the eyes of Cecily, Duchess of York - wife to Richard, Duke of York, mother to two kings, and one of the few major players to live through and bear witness to the entire conflict. This cookie is set by Addthis.com. This cookie is used for sharing of links on social media platforms. While this was a great historical fiction novel that had clearly been deeply researched, I would say that this book is maybe not for people like me, who do not have much knowledge of the royal line. I’d recommend this book to people who are interested in the war of the roses, who already know the main players, and want to see things from Cecily’s perspective.