Anne Easter Smith
Anne Easter Smith
A native of the United Kingdom, Anne Easter Smith has lived in the United States for more than thirty-five years. She was a featured editor at Northern New York Daily for ten years and her writing has been featured in many national magazines. She lives in Newburyport with her husband Scott.
Visit her on the web at http://www.anneeastersmith.com
History tells us that the intelligent, wealthy, and powerful Margaret of York had everything any woman could want, except for love. The acclaimed author of A Rose for the Crown takes us between the lines of history and into her heart.
It is 1461: Edward, son of Richard of York, ascends to the throne, and his willful sister, Margaret, immediately becomes a pawn in European politics as Edward negotiates her marriage. The young Margaret falls deeply in love with Anthony Woodville, the married brother of Edward's queen, Elizabeth. But Edward has arranged for his sister to wed Charles, son of the Duke of Burgundy, and soon Margaret is setting sail for her new life. Her official escort: Anthony Woodville.
Margaret of York eventually commanded the respect and admiration of much of Europe, but it appears to history that she had no emotional intimate. Anne Easter Smith's rare gift for storytelling and her extensive research reveal the love that burned at the center of Margaret's life, adding a new dimension to the story of one of the fifteenth century's most powerful women.
A Rose for the Crown takes place during England's Wars of the Roses, a civil war during the late fifteenth century between the royal houses of York and Lancaster, the white and the red rose respectively. My protagonist is fictional Kate Haute, poor relation to a well-connected family, the Hautes of Ightham Mote in Kent, cousins to Edward IV's queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Richard Haute takes her in to be companion to his daughter. At thirteen, Kate is married first to a wealthy old merchant, who dies two years later. She is then given permission to marry the boy of her dreams, George Haute, a distant cousin of the Kent Hautes and he takes a happy Kate to his home in Suffolk. Her happiness is short-lived, however, and George is a disappointment. George's patron is Sir John Howard, later Duke of Norfolk, and thus Kate becomes acquainted with his new wife, Margaret, soon to be Kate's closest friend. Through the Howards, she meets and has a five-year liaison with Richard, duke of Gloucester, later Richard III. During the four years before Richard's marriage to Lady Anne Neville, Kate and Richard have three illegitimate children. Richard's story becomes the focus of the book once he is king, with Kate helping him through several crises and her love and loyalty buoying him at these times. She is on Bow Bridge in Leicester when he rides out with his army to Bosworth Field, and she keeps vigil over his body upon its return to that city following the house of York's defeat at the hands of Henry Tudor.
The bestselling author of A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York takes a young woman that history noticed only once and sets her on a quest for the truth about the murder of two boys and a man who claims to be king.
All that history knows of Grace Plantagenet is that she was an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV and one of two attendants aboard the funeral barge of his widowed queen. Thus, she was half sister of the famous young princes, who -- when this story begins in 1485 -- had been housed in the Tower by their uncle, Richard III, and are presumed dead.
But in the 1490s, a young man appears at the courts of Europe claiming to be Richard, duke of York, the younger of the boys, and seeking to claim his rightful throne from England's first Tudor king, Henry VII. But is this man who he says he is? Or is he Perkin Warbeck, a puppet of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, who is determined to regain the crown for her York family? Grace Plantagenet finds herself in the midst of one of English history's greatest mysteries. If she can discover the fate of the princes and the true identity of Perkin Warbeck, perhaps she will find her own place in her family
From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of history’s greatest love stories. Anne Easter Smith’s novels are beloved by readers for their ability “to grab you, sweep you along with the story, and make you fall in love with the characters.” * In Cecily Neville, duchess of York and ancestor of every English monarch to the present day, she has found her most engrossing character yet.History remembers Cecily of York standing on the steps of the Market Cross at Ludlow, facing an attacking army while holding the hands of her two young sons. Queen by Right reveals how she came to step into her destiny, beginning with her marriage to Richard, duke of York, whom she meets when she is nine and he is thirteen. Raised together in her father’s household, they become a true love match and together face personal tragedies, pivotal events of history, and deadly political intrigue. All of England knows that Richard has a clear claim to the throne, and when King Henry VI becomes unfit to rule, Cecily must put aside her hopes and fears and help her husband decide what is right for their family and their country. Queen by Right marks Anne Easter Smith’s greatest achievement, a book that every fan of sweeping, exquisitely detailed historical fiction will devour.