Cecily

I'm sometimes annoyed by historical novels. There is a tendency to make the characters modern, and especially to make female characters who wear trousers and fight with swords. And that can be great fun, but it also hides the strength that women had through history, and had to have to survive.

Cecily is not that. She is shown as a woman of flesh and blood: smart, strong, feminine and ambitious. I really liked this book, and will look out for any more novels by this author.

I loved this book. I heard the author on a podcast reading excerpts and immediately purchased, and was not disappointed. I've read a lot of War of the Roses books and feel I know the characters well at this point, but Cecily is one who is always overlooked and this book corrects that and gives her the starring role. She was strong, smart, a survivor. This is not only well-researched but well-written and I only hope I can do half as well in my own book on another strong medieval woman that I hope to write about on here one day.