Cecily

Cecily by Annie Garthwaite. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780241476871.

"Rebellion?" The word is a spark. They can start a fire with it, or smother it in their fingertips. She chooses to start a fire. You are born high, but marry a traitors son. You bear him twelve children, carry his cause and bury his past. You play the game, against enemies who wish you ashes. Slowly, you rise. You are Cecily. But when the King who governs you proves unfit, what then? Loyalty or treason - death may follow both. The board is set. Time to make your first move. Told through the eyes of its greatest unseen protagonist, this astonishing debut plunges you into the blood and exhilaration of the first days of the Wars of the Roses, a war as women fight it.