A CHAT WITH... Anne O'Brien

Anne O’Brien has brought great medieval women, such as Joan of Kent and Elizabeth Mortimer, vividly to life. In The Queen’s Rival, the tale revolves around Cecily Neville

- EMMA SHACKLOCK

Cecily Neville was a formidable woman. She lived for 80 years through the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses. She was the mother of two kings and grandmother to a Queen Consort.

There is always a question mark hanging over Cecily.

Did she have an adulterous affair with a common archer? Was Edward, Earl of March and future king, not really her husband’s child? Whatever the truth, a breath of scandal is always intriguing.