Cecily: An epic feminist retelling of the War of the Roses

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Sorry, this is an absolute disaster. A rambling mess from an incredibly anxious woman who can't seem to put cohesive thoughts together. I was looking forward to funny insights into the star, never expecting it to be this bad, but it's almost unreadable. The Cecily of the book is intelligent, perceptive, ruthless when needed but, most importantly, pragmatic. As she says at one point, ‘When it’s impossible to do a thing, you must simply find a way to make it happen’. Unfortunately that advice, given in a generous spirit, is ultimately turned against her. It’s the same unflinching pragmatism that sees her marry off her six-year-old daughter, Anne, to Henry Holland. ‘She will do it for a dukedom and for ever closer ties to the old royal house, for the network of affinity that will keep York strong.’ England has been fighting France for 100 years. At home, power-hungry men within a corrupt government manipulate a weak king - and name Cecily's husband, York's loyal duke, an enemy. As the king's grasp on sanity weakens, plots to destroy York take root... I hope you enjoy getting to know the seven sisters in this series, each of them different and remarkable in their own way. Just like in life, you're bound to identify with a particular sister more than the others, but that's the part of the fun. And some sisters might even surprise you . . .

While Richard is released without Cecily’s intervention, the next few years sees open warfare break out between Lancaster and York. As the the royal army is about to descend on York’s stronghold of Ludlow. It is Cecily who tells a reluctant Richard and their sons that they must flee. Again, it is Cecily who points out the obvious that both of York’s heirs must not stay with Richard. The choice of which one must be hers. “She thinks of her brother outwitting the queen’s army not a month ago at Blore Heath, first to enter the streets at St. Albans, holding the North and always winning. She looks from him to Richard, and knows. She clenches her fists against her sons’ leather gambesons and pushes them both away. ‘Edward, go with your uncle.’” (Really—poor Richard as a completely witless failure? Splitting up Richard and his immediate heir is surely the obvious move.)An extraordinary achievement . . .I could touch and breathe Cecily's world as if I was walking in her shadow' CAROL MCGRATH, author of The Silken Rose Left to right: Annie’s agent Imogen Pelham, Annie, Annie’s partner Caroline Bennett, Annie’s sister in law Susan Bennett This book was good. Enjoyable and entertaining, a solid 3.5 stars. In short, a very well-researched and gripping account of Cecily's life, but one that I just wanted more from. And then there’s the characterisations. They’re complex, they’re nuanced, the characters are allowed to be grey rather than rigidly good or bad – a common problem in a lot of woman-centric historical fiction set in this era. Cecily herself is massively flawed, snobby, a bit nasty and judgemental. This is “Proud Cis” alright. This domain of this cookie is owned by agkn. The cookie is used for targeting and advertising purposes.

She also gets very real about her relationships with her family and with significant others. She doesn't stay on the surface, she tells it like it was, like it is, and I admire her so much for putting that out there. The way she had relationships that weren't the best, but they had moments in them that mattered and they will stay with her, even though she couldn't stay with them.

But maybe, she suggests, the worst year of your life can also be the best year of your life. I really hope so, for all of us. This book focuses on how instrumental Cecily was in manoeuvring her family and made connections, to put her family in a place of power, and eventually own the crown. The will of God… that any man - or woman indeed - may, according to their courage, shape His will to their purpose.”

This cookie is used to a profile based on user's interest and display personalized ads to the users. Cecily Strong is well known from her time on Saturday Night Live (and now on Schmigadoon!) - she also experienced quite a bit of loss in 2020, her cousin friend Owen but also other people close to her, much less the shutdown of a city and then the world that we all experienced. I will always recommend grief memoirs to people who have experienced grief because the number one thing they accomplish is to help you feel you aren't alone. Cecily wrote this like a diary (unclear if they started that way) so the posts vary in tone and focus, just like life. She has some days where anxiety is the focus and others where she reflects on something happening in the world politically or even in pop culture, but others where she is writing about her cousin, Covid, isolation, etc. For me, the stand out character of the 15th century has always been Cecily Neville. She experienced power in both directions: wielding it and having it wielded against her. She survived eighty years of tumultuous history, mothered kings, created a dynasty and brought her family through civil war. She met victory and defeat in equal measure and, in face of all, lived on. Last woman standing, you might say.” Or this, on the freedom she found after crossing the Atlantic. “The big change for me was that in America, people seemed a lot more relaxed about what you could and couldn’t do. Yes. As an artist. In America they’d already moved on. People had figured out that you could still paint. The conversation just felt totally different when I first came here.”

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It started in school if I’m honest, with a history teacher that kept asking me questions that, frankly, weren’t ever on the syllabus. Important questions like, ‘So why do you think she did that?’ or ‘What might have been in her mind when…?’ Or the big one: ‘But, do you think that’s true?’ My final exam mark wasn’t that impressive. I was a bit woolly on dates and politics, but very strong on character motivation.

The book describes Brown’s early, erotically charged works, her forays into animation, and her rise within the American gallery system. Throughout the book, Brown’s own words offer enormous insight into her beautiful, impressionistic pictures. Cecily Strong's last name is ironic because she comes across as the most insecure person in the world. Everything about COVID scared her, everything about her cousin's health challenges scared her, but everything about everyday life scares her. She has serious mental health problems, and while early in the book she tries to claim she wants to bring light to the subject this book instead just makes her look unqualified to carry out her job or personal relationships. I can't figure out why anyone would hire her or want to be around her after seeing how serious her anxiety issues are. Hopefully she gets some serious help but this explains why she isn't better used on SNL, where the live shows produce incredible stress. I rarely encounter my name in any context that doesn't refer to me personally. I've never met another Cecily (though I've met a Celia, a Cecilia, and a Cecil). As a child, I never had pens, t-shirts, or bags with my name printed on them. Perhaps that’s why my favourite Beatrix Potter was Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes (which I reviewed here), and later, I was easily won over to Oscar Wilde by The Importance of Being Earnest (which I reviewed here). I’m not named after a famous Cecily from history of fiction, but after my maternal grandmother, who died in a car accident when my father was in his teens. It’s not that I’m a big fan of blood and battles. Personally I can do without that sort of thing. No. It’s the women who interest me. How they negotiated their way in the world. How they managed – some of them at least, probably more than you’d think – to wield power and influence at a time when men seemed to hold most of the cards. And how others, simply, didn't.Romance is very definitely downplayed. At age 13, Cecily decides she is content with her husband. She had studied him and seen her own nature mirrored in his. She trusted “his careful watchfulness, admired his certain actions.” (Just a bit too dispassionate, perhaps?) Cecily despises unequal marriages and feels nothing but scorn when Jacquetta, the widow of the duke of Bedford, marries the pretty golden boy Woodville; a marriage to which the groom can only bring his good looks. At least, we are spared any mention of a certain archer. No way would this Cecily lower herself. (Well, maybe, but only if said archer could eliminate he entire House of Lancaster in return.) Cecily Strong had a special bond with her cousin Owen. And so she was devastated when, in early 2020, he passed away at age thirty from the brain cancer glioblastoma. Before Strong could attempt to process her grief, another tragedy the coronavirus pandemic. Following a few harrowing weeks in the virus epicenter of New York City, Strong relocated to an isolated house in the woods upstate. Here, trying to make sense of Owen’s death and the upended world, she spent much of the ensuing months writing. The result is This Will All Be Over Soon —a raw, unflinching memoir about loss, love, laughter, and hope. BLOODY GREAT. So modern, so political, it could almost be set in Downing Street' KATE SAWYER, author of The Stranding