Guest Post from Cynthia Haggard

And now for a guest post from Cynthia Haggard, Author of The Thwarted Queen.

Where did you come up with your idea for book or novel? Was there a person that was your inspiration

for this book/novel?  Who would you like to thank for getting you where you are today?

It all started with my sister Melanie. She knows that I love to watch BBC documentaries about British history, so she saved me the tape in which Tony Robinson (well-known to British audiences for bringing history alive with such programs as THE TEN WORST JOBS OF THE MIDDLE AGES) was talking about the murders of the Princes in the Tower by their Wicked Uncle Richard III, when he mentioned that British historian Michael K. Jones had been going through the archives of Rouen Cathedral when he noticed that Richard of York was absent during the summer of 1441 for a period of 5 weeks. Nine months later, his wife, Lady Cecylee Neville, Duchess of York, gave birth to a boy Edward. Was the child his? The duke's absence during that critical period raised the issue of whether Edward was legitimate. The reason why this is important is because Edward of York became Richard's heir, and after Richard's murder in 1460 gathered the Yorkist forces together, won a couple of decisive battles and was crowned King Edward IV in June of 1461. So, if it was true that he was illegitimate, this put the claim of the present Queen of England into doubt, since she traces her lineage through Edward IV.

But the reason why I began writing this novel is because I wanted to know what Cecylee said to her husband Richard when he returned from his summer campaigning in that summer of 1441. How did she persuade Richard to make Edward his heir? She must have been a remarkable woman, I mused, to have kept her husband wrapped firmly around her little finger, even though she had wronged him.

And so that is how I started to write THWARTED QUEEN. And yes, I did thank my sister in the Author's Acknowledgements!

Now here is your chance to win a copy of The Thwarted Queen. Follow this link.