Queen By Right: A Novel

The story of the ancestress of five centuries of English monarchs, QUEEN BY RIGHT tells the story of Cecily Neville over a period of 40 years. An outspoken woman for her time, with a razor sharp intellect, she lived at the center of history making events in the 1400s.

This book satisfies on so many levels:
• The deeply romantic love match between Cecily and her husband, Richard of York, beginning from their meeting as children.
• Insights into the medical care available to someone through 14(!) pregnancies.
• Best of all, understanding how the arranged marriages among England's nobles led to shifting loyalties in the decades leading up to the start of The War of The Roses.

While I read a lot of history fiction, this is the first book show more that gave me an appreciation of how much family relationships impacted politics at this time. For example -
What happens when your sister believes your own husband is guilty of treason?
What is it like when your uncle becomes your mortal enemy?
What if your own daughter marries someone on the "other side?"

I loved discovering how Anne Easter Smith uses the private details of her characters' lives and ambitions to tell the political story of this fascinating era in English history. And I now understand the events that led to the beginning of the "Cousins War." This is a thoughtfully presented and well-researched novel. show less

The story of the ancestress of five centuries of English monarchs, QUEEN BY RIGHT tells the story of Cecily Neville over a period of 40 years. An outspoken woman for her time, with a razor sharp intellect, she lived at the center of history making events in the 1400s.

This book satisfies on so many levels:
• The deeply romantic love match between Cecily and her husband, Richard of York, beginning from their meeting as children.
• Insights into the medical care available to someone through 14(!) pregnancies.
• Best of all, understanding how the arranged marriages among England's nobles led to shifting loyalties in the decades leading up to the start of The War of The Roses.

While I read a lot of history fiction, this is the first book show more that gave me an appreciation of how much family relationships impacted politics at this time. For example -
What happens when your sister believes your own husband is guilty of treason?
What is it like when your uncle becomes your mortal enemy?
What if your own daughter marries someone on the "other side?"

I loved discovering how Anne Easter Smith uses the private details of her characters' lives and ambitions to tell the political story of this fascinating era in English history. And I now understand the events that led to the beginning of the "Cousins War." This is a thoughtfully presented and well-researched novel. show less

When I was growing up, my mom wanted to be a young adult historical novelist but was stymied by history: women were married at a young age or historical costume styles were far racier than we modern folk are comfortable with (her example was something like ancient Egyptian women had their breasts exposed, if I recall correctly). So she never wrote her novel but as a result we both immensely enjoy a historical novelist who wrestles well with historical accuracy and modern reader sentiments.

Anne Easter Smith is really astounding at this. Her novel opens with Cicely as a young girl -- six -- and she manages to convey a child having a childhood rather than living as an object being kept to, essentially, later trade. Even if, in this era, show more the idea of childhood didn't exist, Smith's articulation of what Cecily's young life could have been like put me as a reader both at ease and unease. Time was spent fleshing out the enormous cast of characters and so, as Cecily ages and her life begins to get more and more complicated, the reader is invited to become embroiled in the drama of the times.

And talk about dramatic times! In addition to the usual kind of court intrigue one expects of this type of historical novel, Smith inventively incorporates other notable events. Cecily's obsession with Joan of Arc and her trial reminded me of myself and the ways I can get hooked on CNN and other news outlets come some disaster or notorious crime trial. It made for a heroine who felt very real and easy to relate to, someone I could imagine as a friend.

At more than 470 pages, this hefty novel allows for detailed exploration of the events in Cecily's life. At times, I confess, I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people I had to keep track of but Smith tries very hard to make each character memorable if they're significant to the story -- although occasionally I found that made for some flat secondary characters (I found myself often thinking, 'Oh, so this is cranky Anne' more than once.).

Readers familiar with the Lancaster/York Wars of the Roses will likely enjoy this thorough novel and those new to this era will get an education. This is the kind of classic historical novel I think of when I enthuse about the genre, one that places the reader square in the time and makes otherwise shadowy historical figures feel compelling and real. Despite whatever small struggles I had keeping track of people, Cecily's story kept me engaged and when I reached the final page (with its satisfying nod to an event from the beginning of the novel), I felt a pang of bittersweet sadness at having to say goodbye to her and her family. show less

Cecily Neville, betrothed to Richard Plantagenet when only thirteen years old, is the main subject of "Queen by Right" by Anne Easter Smith. What made this royal marriage so unusual are they that truly loved each other.

They were raised together; Richard became the ward of her father at young age when he was orphaned. Cecily was her father's favorite, he let her wear men's clothes and riding horse the way men did. The two children became fond friends and that later changed into love. She was so independent and didn't hesitate to speak her mind. That got her in trouble often when she was growing up. She had a very strong character. It is easily to imagine and love Cecily at all ages. She made mistakes but you could to understand why she show more made them.

The first few pages of the book tell you Richard's and his son's demise and then the story go back to the beginning of the story. That short peek into the future made it very difficult to lay the book down. There were other flashbacks as the story continued. I loved the beginning flashback but not very fond of the others. I would preferred that story flowed from beginning to end after the first flashback. That was the only thing that I didn't like.

Cecily eventually is the mother of two kings. Cecily often demonstrates her courage through very dangerous times. When grown, she has trouble restraining herself from speaking her mind and making decisions usually made by men. She was deeply inspired by Joan of D'Arc and her believed that Joan was a saint long before others considered it. That belief is one of the things that put her life in danger.

One of the reasons why I love historical fiction is that I enjoy learning about the times. And this well researched book did not disappoint at all. Ann Easter Smith puts you right in the times and the places that she writes about. She also includes humor to highlight the deep love that the couple had for each other. This book helps you understand why cousin fought cousin. You learn why it was difficult to trust anyone out of immediate family. Most of all, Cecily was a mother in this book and it was so easy to love her as she took delight when her children were born and worried constantly about their safety.

I highly recommend this book to all lovers of historical fiction. I am definitely a fan of Anne Easter Smith now and want to read her other books. show less

I have long been fascinated with the War of the Roses. So after reading the King’s Grace I leapt head first into reading Queen by Right written by Anne Easter Smith and what a journey it was. We follow the story from the very beginning with Cecily Neville and her husband Richard Duke of York. Arguably the War of the Roses started when Edward the Black Prince of Wales died before taking the crown his Father died but a year after leaving Young Richard II as King with his Uncle John of Gaunt as regent but I digress.

Anne Easter Smith takes us on a journey from the time that the young couple meets when Richard Duke of York becomes the ward of Cecily’s Father. While the couple is told they will marry as was the custom at the time they show more fell deeply in love with one another and their love story is one of the ages. I positively loved following along on each turn in their life that we are guided through by Anne Easter Smith’s masterful writing. From a surprising time in France where Cecily is to come in contact with Joan of Arc before she is burned at the stake to their time in Ireland.

If you know your history you know their love ends in a tragic way but it leads to somewhat more positive things. This time period is when the War of the Roses truly did reach its height even when there was a strong King on the throne nothing was guaranteed. Any fan of historical fiction will enjoy this book immensely. It is packed full of facts so that you do not feel as if you are reading a fiction so much as living events that happened. Queen by right is simply a masterful piece of work by Anne Easter Smith. show less

I have read 2 excellent books this year regarding opposing sides during The Wars of the Roses; this is the second one. (The first was about Margaret of Anjou.)
It feels as if Anne Easter Smith has easily captured the love affair Between Cecily Neville and Richard of York. I have always had a great deal of sympathy for the Beaufort Nevilles: except some of the family that attach themselves to Henry VI's queen. I'm a sucker for John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford.
It amazes me, the intricate family connections, and all of the destruction resulting from that precious claim to the throne of England. I love the inclusion of the family trees in the beginning of the novel, as I always appreciate the refresher-and learn something new. It's show more important to keep all of these characters straight!
Cecily and Richard had an amazing life together, and such tragedy in the end.
I would love to see the author write about Katherine Swynford. show less

The Good Stuff

* Reminded me a little of the Jean Plaidy novels I read as a teen - I was a huge fan of historical fiction back then
* A fabulous way of teaching some history without getting too dry and serious.
* Brilliantly researched
* Important for the nerdy anal library worker that I am - Awesome Genealogical chart, nice map, detailed bibliography and glossary -- this stuff really helps when reading historical fiction
* Loved the background of Cecily as a young little spitfire
* The authors fascination and love of the subject matter really shines through
* Interesting look into the world of young people during the 1400's
* Although the story lacks in the middle, it does become more interesting during the last quarter of the show more novel

The Not so Good Stuff

* way too much flowery lovey declarations - this is not my thing so I was irritated with it at times. But in authors defense this is how they spoke during this era - but still icky lovey dovey
* A little slow at times, but still better than reading a history book on this subject. This should be read over a period of time and not like a typical novel where you curl under a cover and get lost in the story
* The story sort of looses steam when Cecily becomes a mother and focuses much on that over the fascinating history going on

Favorite Quotes/Passages

"Rowena was shocked by Cecily's candor, frowned a warning, and jerked her head at Joan's stiff back. "I believe his grace of York will be the one to determine that my lady," she whispered back. "He may have a dynasty in mind for the two of you."
"Then he may have to do it all by himself!" Cecily retorted."

"I suppose you will learn the hard way that women will never be a man's equal in the world. We may lend an ear, we may even counsel our husbands when asked, but we are a man's property from one end of our lives to the other. First 'tis our fathers who own and use us to profit from a marriage contract, and then we must honor and obey any husband thrust upon us. You would be well advised to learn obedience to your husband's wishes, Cecily, for to disobey is unforgivable in a wife and is a reminder of Eve and her first sin; that of listening to Satan." (Jen's note: Doesn't that make you want to puke!)

What I Learned

* Tons of fascinating historical facts and not going to tell you what or you just won't read the book
* Really sucked to be a women in the 1400's

Who should/shouldn't read

* Perfect for those who know little of Cecily and Richard, a good interesting introduction to further historical reading
* Not for those who enjoy something a little more intense, this is very slow at times

3.5 Dewey's

I received this from Simon and Schuster in exchange for an honest review show less