Cecily (Hardback)
  • Cecily (Hardback)
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Cecily (Hardback)

(author)
£14.99
Hardback 384 Pages
Published: 29/07/2021

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Waterstones Says

Set amidst the unrest and political powerplay of fifteenth-century England, Garthwaite’s vivid, breath-taking novel reimagines the life of Cecily, Duchess of York – a mother, wife and shrewd political player in the Wars of the Roses.

'Rebellion?'
The word is a spark. They can start a fire with it, or smother it in their fingertips.
She chooses to start a fire.

You are born high, but marry a traitor's son. You bear him twelve children, carry his cause and bury his past. You play the game, against enemies who wish you ashes. Slowly, you rise.

You are Cecily.

But when the king who governs you proves unfit, what then? Loyalty or treason - death may follow both. The board is set. Time to make your first move.

Told through the eyes of its greatest unknown protagonist, this astonishing debut plunges you into the closed bedchambers and bloody battlefields of the first days of the Wars of the Roses, a war as women fight it.

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241476871
Number of pages: 384
Weight: 611 g
Dimensions: 240 x 162 x 35 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

A startling heroine - Sarah Moss

In vigorous, direct prose Garthwaite grippingly resurrects a remarkable woman - Sunday Times

Utterly compelling, this brilliant novel shines a light into a dark corner of our history and reclaims the voice and story of a powerful and forgotten woman. A phenomenal read. I loved it - Liz Hyder, author of The Gifts

Has the new Hilary Mantel arrived? - Sunday Telegraph

I look forward to hearing more from Annie Garthwaite and Cecily - Times

Cecily is a vivid and compelling portrait of a formidable figure from the 15th century and a heroine for our times - Big Issue

In Garthwaite's hands, Neville proves as Machiavellian, manipulative and era-defining as any man - Noon

Cecily stalks the corridors of power like a female Thomas Cromwell. A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses - what a feat - Imogen Hermes Gowar

An extraordinary achievement . . . I could touch and breathe Cecily's world as if I was walking in her shadow - Carol McGrath

CECILY is the WOLF HALL for the 2020s... marks the start of a stellar career - Manda Scott

I loved it . . . Annie Garthwaite writes about the past with a kind of restrained, earthy vim, and with the sort of intimacy and immediacy - and empathy - that can only come from graft and craft - Toby Clements

Cecily stalks the corridors of power like a female Thomas Cromwell. A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses - what a feat - Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of THE MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK

An extraordinary achievement . . .I could touch and breathe Cecily's world as if I was walking in her shadow - Carol McGrath

A stunning debut. Cecily is an unforgettable heroine... a novel about the power and resourcefulness of women - Susan Elliott-Wright

An intimate, vivid, and compulsively page turning retelling of the Wars of the Roses. At the centre of it all is Cecily herself - ferocious to her enemies, loving to her family, both cannily pragmatic and willing to take the greatest of risks for the greatest of prizes - Tim Leach

Like Mantel's work, Garthwaite's memorable book leaps beyond its genre of historical fiction. Garthwaite writes with empathy and a brilliant eye for historical detail. This book is a winner--don't miss it! - Pamela Petro

Vivid and compelling - J L Laynesmith

A bold, beautiful novel - Eleanor Dymott

Masterful and majestic, here is 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. Immense - Chris Cleave

Entirely absorbing and utterly compelling. C15th England leaps from the page, with all its political turmoil & bloodshed. I loved it - Caroline Lea

This book is really special. It covers a part of history where women are often footnotes but in this book Cecily is ALIVE, alive & flawed - Kate Sawyer

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“An engrossing, unflinching, and compelling portrait”

The Wars of the Roses, remembered for the battles and the fairly rapid turn-around of monarchs, and, eventually, the start of the Tutor age. But what about the women? Or rather, what about one woman in particular?... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 41

“A Formidable figure in history.”

Cecily Neville was an English noblewoman, the wife of Richard, Duke of York, and the mother of two kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III.

This story is about how she exercised power and had power was used... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 34

“A tale of Kings and battles fought with swords, but at its heart the story of a passionate, ambitious woman.”

Feminist retellings of history and myth seem to have flourished in the last few years. It is something I've thoroughly enjoyed, but none quite so much as Cecily.
This retelling feels different somehow. Maybe... More

Hardback edition
3 similar books recommended
Helpful? Upvote 26

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