Read an excerpt from my NEW BOOK!

This is an introduction to my newest book entitled "Jacquetta Woodville, Margaret of Anjou & Cecily Neville: Women Behind the Wars of the Roses". Enjoy it!

Jacquetta Woodville, Margaret of Anjou and Cecily Neville are among the best-known female figures during the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict that raged in England from 1455 to 1485. Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Saint-Pol, married John Plantagenet of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, and became one of the highest-ranking women in England and France. After Bedford’s death, she married Sir Richard Woodville, a mere knight and squire, with whom she produced a large brood of children, including Elizabeth, the future Queen consort.

In her lifetime, Jacquetta was best known as the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner who married King Edward IV. In her afterlife, she is best known as the heroine in Philippa Gregory’s bestselling novels of The Cousins’ War series, The Lady of the Rivers and The White Queen, wherein she is depicted as an intelligent, strong woman with psychic abilities. Portrayed on screen by Janet McTeer, Jacquetta became one of the most beloved characters in The White Queen.

Yet the real Jacquetta, a woman who was the mother and grandmother of kings and queens, is buried beneath a thick layer of myths. Was she really a witch, as suggested by contemporary rumours and modern fiction? Did she have a sinister influence of her son-in-law, Edward IV? Was she really a power-thirsty individual who sought the advancement of her family at all costs? Jacquetta is an elusive historical figure, but her importance cannot be emphasised enough. Through the marriage of her daughter to Edward IV, she is the ancestress of entire houses of royals: Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII, Margaret and Mary Tudor, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth Tudor and many, many more. Her blood flows through the veins of modern royalty, and it’s only fitting that Jacquetta should become the subject of a biography.

Jacquetta’s story is inevitably linked to the lives of two other women: Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. In 1445, fifteen-year-old Margaret of Anjou made the perilous sea journey from France to England, where she married King Henry VI. Jacquetta was among the noble ladies selected to welcome Margaret and escort her from France to England. Soon Jacquetta became one of Margaret’s favourite ladies-in-waiting and chief confidante. The Queen’s failure to provide a male heir, as well as her part in ceding French territories to her husband’s political enemies, gained her many enemies among the nobility and general populace. When she finally gave birth to a son in 1453, her world came to a crashing halt.

In 1453, shortly before Margaret gave birth, Henry VI descended into a mysterious mental illness. Richard, Duke of York, who had hitherto been denied an important role in the government, seized the opportunity and became lord protector. But this powerful lord’s ambitions clashed with Margaret of Anjou’s own plans. As her husband rebelled against Henry VI, Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, found herself in the position of queen-to-be. England slid into chaos and war.

Set against the rich background of fifteenth-century court life are the interwoven stories of these three women whose relationships were tested by the changing loyalties of their husbands, sons and daughters.