INTERVIEW WITH ANNE EASTER SMITH

I am pleased to welcome a friend and fellow Ricardian, Anne Easter Smith, whose new novel about Cecily Neville, Queen by Right, hits the stores this week.  There can never be enough books about Richard III and his family and I am looking forward to reading Anne's view of Cecily's life.   

Q.  "Queen By Right" is your fourth book in a series about the York family. Where does it fit in with the others?

A.    First of all, let me thank you very much for agreeing to let me guest post on your prestigious blog. As you are one of my favorite authors, it is quite an honor to be here! To answer your question, you could call this the prequel to the other three, Sharon. I started, like you, with the story of the real Richard III in "A Rose for the Crown", and because I had a two-book contract with Simon & Schuster, I chose to write about Richard's sister Margaret of Burgundy in "Daughter of York." I followed up on a thread in that book about a "secret boy" Margaret had taken under her wing and wrote "The King's Grace." It includes my theory on whether or not Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the throne in the 1490s, was indeed the younger of the two princes in the Tower, who were supposedly murdered by their uncle, Richard III. (You and I know that was not the case, however!) In all three of those books, the matriarch of the house of York, Cecily Neville, duchess of York, kept popping in and out or was never far from her children's thoughts when it came to them making decisions, and when she did, you could not help be drawn to her strong personality, notice the influence she had on her children, and be intrigued by the drama of her life. Richard was only nine, George of Clarence twelve and Margaret fourteen when Cecily was widowed. Her oldest son, Edward became king at nineteen, six months after his father's death, and Cecily guided his steps in those first years of his reign. I end the book with Edward's coronation, and when I watched the royal wedding last week, I could not help but imagine the young Edward taking exactly the same walk up that astonishing nave to the altar as William did.

 

Q.  What did you find out about Cecily Neville that you didn't know from your previous research?

A.   "Queen By Right" takes us to Cecily's early life when she and Richard became betrothed in 1424 and up to Edward's coronation. I had written lots about events during the Wars of the Roses, but I had never really delved into why Richard of York chose to assert his claim to the throne when he did. So all of that research meant understanding Richard's whole life and career. He was orphaned at age four and lived in the shadow of the treason and attainting of his father, and I think it affected his behavior for a long time and caused many of Henry VI's councilors to shun him–like father like son, they may have thought, and he believed. Like Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War, the man was pushed out of the circle of power one too many times and he eventually snapped.  In 1424, when the book starts, England was in the second half of the Hundred Years War (of course, they didn't know this at the time or that it would be called that!) and how important Normandy was in the scheme of things. England had "owned" it since Willie the Conk (William the Conqueror) was crowned in 1066. Over the next three hundred years, bits and pieces were lost to the French and finally Edward III decided to start fighting for it. It wasn't until Henry V ("Once more unto the breach dear friends") won decisive victory at Agincourt in 1415 (three months before Cecily was born) that things began to go England's way. To get back to your question, though. Cecily and Richard found themselves in Rouen, the seat of the English government in Normandy, a couple of times: once with the king's household in 1431. If that date doesn't quite ring a bell with anyone, they are forgiven! It isn't all of us who know that in May of that year, Joan of Arc was tried and burned at the stake. And yes, Cecily was there. Then I followed the couple to back to Normandy when Richard was governor in the early 1440s, and onto Ireland, where Richard was "ordered" to be lord lieutenant (actually to get him out of the way again). Cecily's role was very much one of military wife, and that's something I can relate to, having been one myself! I had not realized how much Cecily had traveled.

 

Q.  What were the challenges you faced with this book compared with the others?

A.    My biggest challenge was having to start my research from scratch this time. All my other books took place from 1460 and to the end of the century. Now I was in the first half of the century and I suddenly realized I was back in the Hundred Years War, an event I had conveniently buried in my schoolbook memory and had to resurrect. I didn't know the politics and more importantly, I didn't know the characters. Most of the people were dead by the time my other books started. Up until then for me, the only duke of Gloucester was our Richard, and now I had to get to know another one–and a very important man from 1420s to 1440s. So instead of borrowing from my knowledge and library of the second half of the 15th century, I was having to build a whole new framework for my story. I don't know how some authors are able to jump around history so effortlessly! I have been steeped only in the 15th century for fifteen years. Another challenge was creating a character whose personality so many readers have already formed from other sources. Cecily will invariably show up in any book about Richard III, Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret of Anjou etc., but other than Eleanor Fairburn's 1970s trilogy about Cecily, "Queen by Right" is the only novel about her since then. I truly loved telling her story.

 

Q.  On a personal note, Anne, which of your characters do you relate to most?

R.   I have to say that Margaret of York is the one that made me want to befriend her. When I was researching her, I was thrilled to know she was tall for her age. Being six feet myself, I know we would have some horror stories to share about our height problems. I was also delighted to know that she was such a bibliophile, as am I. And of all the romantic interests in any of my four books, Anthony would have also been the one I fell for! Although I was also drawn to John of Gloucester in "The King's Grace." Both were much too young for me, however

 

Q.  Are you writing another book?

R.   I never thought I'd ever write more than one, Sharon, so to be writing a fifth blows my mind. I have threatened that this is the last in the York family series, but who knows what might transpire while I am writing it. Someone might jump out at me during my research and say "Tell my story," so I am hedging my bets. This new one is about Edward IV's mistress, Jane Shore, who made an appearance in "Sunne in Splendor" I believe. She had quite a dramatic 10 year period in her life that I couldn't resist, and so, as with my other books, I am showing one of the important men of the period through the eyes of a woman. Even though Edward IV figures in all of my books as a major character, I have not really focused on him yet.

Thanks again, Sharon, for sharing your space with me. I can't wait to read "Lionheart"!

      Thank you, Anne, for sharing your thoughts with us.   I am delighted that you will be writing about Jane Shore next, as she is one of my favorite royal mistress, second only to Charles II's Nell Gwynn.  It is about time Jane got a book of her own!

May 9, 2011