Ashdown-Hill's research and writing on Cecily Neville is astonishing. You can't escape the knowledge and the intellect behind this work. I am constantly drawn to the lives of historical figures that are either under-recorded or written out of history and full of admiration for the dedication that contemporary historians and writers give to bringing them back into the world. Giving them the presence they rightly deserve.

Thank you for approving this title for me and I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to review it.

This is an interesting and insightful look at Cecily Neville. She was never queen but she was the mother of two kings and played an important role in the Wars of the Roses.

2.5 stars

I would like to thank netgalley and Pan and Sword for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Cecily Neville seems to become almost a footnote in her own biography. Ashdown-Hill goes on unuseful and uninteresting tangents. The book can't make up its mind between being a academic and population biography.

There are some interesting points about Cecily, the chapters on her later life more interesting, as they are more focused on her.

This is a fascinating biography of Cecily Neville, and it was good to read about her as a standalone subject rather than as someone's mother/aunt/wife etc.
Meticulously researched as one would expect from this author, this is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in this period of history.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance ARC copy of this book.

A meticulously researched book by John Ashdown-Hill, Cecily Neville: Mother of Richard III is well written and appealing to those interested in the 15th century. As with other females throughout the past, there was apparently a severe lack of true documentation describing her life. Most writers would have steered clear of attempting to fill those gaps but Ashdown-Hill has seemingly melded what was scanty and myth-filled with new resources to produce a fascinating story about the wife of Richard Plantagenet, the Duke of York.
Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.

I liked finding this book because it was about someone known but little is written about her.
I first gained interest in her life after reading about the war of the roses and this quickly gained my interest

Like most medieval women, the details of Cecily Neville’s life have been lost to the passage of time and overshadowed by the often-male-led research that has been solely and blindly focussed on the lives of her husband and sons. This means that, although I appreciate all that John Ashdown-Hill was trying to do, a majority of this book’s 312 pages contained only speculation about where Cecily was and what she was thinking during each of the time period’s most crucial moments. Honestly, this makes me unspeakable angry. This woman played a pivotal role in the War of the Roses and we don’t even really know how to spell her name? I mean, come on. So, even though the book was obviously well-researched, the lack of information available turned the life of a bloody incredible woman into a blurred, repetitive mess. And because of that, I couldn’t help that my overriding impression (and really only takeaway) of the book ending up being that Cecily Neville - and John Ashdown-Hill - deserved better.

Ashdown-Hill attempts to discern as much as possible about this woman - mother of two Kings of England. He doesn't delve into a history of the Wars of the Roses, but keeps the narrative on track. He dispenses with the mythology surrounding Cecily and instead presents the facts - as known and at times meagre and contradictory - in an attempt to bring order into her timeline.

What I enjoyed most: the inclusion of documents and her legacies; notes on those in her inner circle; the use of the appendix at the end to tackle the mythology of "the rose of raby" and other loose ends.

I also have Amy Licence's "Cecily Neville: Mother of Kings" - it will make for an interesting comparison.

Really enjoyed this book! There was a lot I didn't know about Cecily, but Ashdown-Hill does a great job filling in the blanks on this elusive historical figure.

Cecily is such an interesting figure and I was so excited to be approved for this one on NetGalley. She was the mother of two kings, Edward IV and Richard III, as well the wife of a man who could have/should have been king, Richard, Duke of York. Yet we know remarkably little about her, as per usual. As with other women from this period and before, she is well-known without actually being known. For generations Cecily has been known as both Proud Cis and the Rose of Raby, yet here today we don't actually know if either moniker fits particularly well. We don't even know if she was really born at Raby Castle, or if the vanity and temper she has been identified with for so long is actually an accurate description of her character. We know the basics, that she lived in a dangerous time when the throne was changing hands between the Yorks and Lancasters at a sometimes-alarming rate. She was the grandmother of Elizabeth of York, the Princes in the Tower, and Henry VIII. What bothers me about books such as these is that sometimes so little is known about a figure, we have to do exactly what I have just done, and frame her life in relation to those around her - and those relations are 99.999999999% of the time male. Look at the subtitle even, 'Mother of Richard III'. So, I am torn on books like this. I want to know all I can about women who survived and thrived in that period, but I also want to know about them on their own terms, and not simply who they were in relation to the men in their lives.

I can appreciate the work of the late Dr Ashdown-Hill, who passed away in May of this year. I enjoy reading his work, though we do not always hold the same position, particularly where Richard III is concerned. Still, I knew going into this one that regardless of what information he presented or the conclusions he came to, that they would be well-researched and factually sound. I value his work and the fact that he chose not to focus too often on the maybes and such. There will always be supposition in books such as these, but I feel Dr Ashdown-Hill always does a rather good job of keeping that to a minimum, and giving thorough explanations for why he believes what he does. The issue with those unknowns again though, is the fact that sometimes there is simply not enough proven, factual information about someone's life to warrant a full-length biography. I feel like that happened a bit with this one. Where information on Cecily was lacking, those gaps were then filled in with information about other members of her family in that particular time. There is nothing wrong with this, and to think that one could ever write a biography about anyone without including info on those closest to her or him, is more than a bit silly. But there is also a certain point where one has to decide if there really is enough information to go into a full-length book. Sometimes, no matter how interesting the person is, the unfortunate answer is that there is not.

Even so, I would still recommend this title to anyone with an interest in Plantagenet history and this period in particular. The book is academic without being boring, and even a reader with casual interest in this branch of the family tree will find it a good read.

Cecily Neville was a woman above all women. She was a force to be reckoned with, and a strong and determined will lived within her. Ambition, advancement - and someone who almost was queen of England. Can you imagine what a queen she would have made!

Cecily Neville is brought to life in this book. While most of what we know about her comes from other sources, John Ashdown-Hill did a fantastic job with this book! I could not put it down. I have always been fascinated with Cecily - a woman who was more than just a housewife and decoration for her husband. She raised a determined brood of children. Two sons sat on the throne of England, one was put to death as a traitor, and her own life was determined by the twist of fates outside her control.

I put this book down for a bit after the death of John Ashdown-Hill. The world lost a fabulous historian, and I was devastated to know that we would not get more of his incredible writing in the future. But this book is one of his masterpieces. I cannot recommend it enough! Get to know Cecily on a level that you never thought possible!

The women who bore the Kings of the War of the Roses. Cecily Neville is an amazing figure and it was amazing to hear about her life, things that aren't commonly known. amazing book. recommend highly

Cecily Neville has always fascinated me and this book certainly aided to my interests in the woman. You can feel the passion and work that Ashdown-Hill put into this work. Fascinating and well written. Ashdown-Hill will be sorely missed.

While Cecily Neville is certainly not an obscure historical person, very little has been written to focus on her own life and the impact that it had on the course of history. This title was refreshing in that it attempted to single her out in history and focus on presenting as much we can possibly know about her. Throughout the text, Ashdown-Hill sorts through the facts as we have them and the speculative aspects of Cecily’s story. The book was extremely well researched and pieced together much of Cecily’s life and the time period that she lived in. At times, the discussion became a bit repetitive and/or read more like a research dissertation which slowed down my own reading of the text. Occasional interjections by the author regarding his own experiences or opinions felt a bit out of place in an otherwise formally presented history.

However, one of the disadvantages presenting a book on such a focused subject with limited facts and an (understandable) unwillingness of the author to guess at truth is that a number of gaps in a story that begs to be told. Ashdown-Hill’s writing and attention to detail made this an enjoyable read for a self-proclaimed history buff. I have read quite a few other works about the War of the Roses, the Plantagenets, and the Tudors, and my hope was that this book would take a much deeper dive into this era via Cecily’s narrative. Disappointingly, and by no fault of the author, her story falls a bit short of the level of detail that someone already familiar with the tale would desire, simply because there is so much about Cecily that, as Ashdown-Hill points out, we do not know. As a result, I found myself wishing that he had filled in the holes of the narrative with more details about her children, the transfer of the crown, or the time period itself (even though the book is about Cecily and not the English civil wars as a whole). Taken as a scholarly text, rather than a biography, will help readers approach this book with appreciation.

This book is brilliant, I loved it. Meticulously research and clearly written this is a definitive account on one of medieval Englands most overlooked matriarchs, Cecily Neville was a absolutely fascinating character in her own right and this book brings her out of the shadows.
I can not recommend this highly enough.
I was given a ARC by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Cecily Neville is a fascinating person from an intriguing time period in history. I love reading and learning about fifteenth and sixteenth century Britain England. Although the subtitle mentions Neville as the mother of Richard the third, she is much more than simply a mother or wife. This book goes into her life and all the change and drama she sees in it. She sees joys as the mother of a King and yet tragedy as he falls. Dr John Ashdown-Hill approaches this book in an academic yet easy to read and understand manner. He decided to dismantle the myths and go for a factual views instead. This is an excellent read and I feel I learned so much about a time period I thought I already had a good knowledge of. This book would be enjoyed by anyone wanting to learn about history or more about the story of Cecily Neville. Thanks so much to Netgalley for the ARC!! This book is a true 5 stars out of 5!!

This is a very well-researched and well-thought-out book about the mother of Richard the Third. I was highly interested in this book, as there are quite a few books out there about important women during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but not many that specifically deal with Cecily Neville.

Although the records that have come down to us are incomplete, as is most often the case with any historical figure before a certain date, I thought the author did an exemplary job of filling in the gaps with logical reasoning and a history of the rest of her family, making for a book that is both scholarly and yet, enjoyable to read.

This book would be great for anyone who wants to know where the infamous Richard III came from, as well as anyone who wishes to know more about Cecily Neville herself. The writing style makes this book easy to read and to follow and kept my interest from beginning to end.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially scholars that are interested in this period. It was informative and a pleasure to read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Cecily Neville is my 16th great grandmother. I imagine she is the 16th great grandmother of millions. That's why I was interested in this book.

Dr. Ashdown-Hill is careful with history. I appreciate that. This book makes clear the problem of genealogy for anyone using the popular web based genealogy sites. It is so easy to copy and spread inaccurate information. This book makes clear how little actual facts are known about Cecily Neville. What is known, is laid out in an interesting easy to read fashion.

I enjoyed reading about the movements of the royal court and all the intrigue. Who would have guessed that a book about Cecile Neville would be a page turner? This story is so well written that it is!

Side note: I did take the "The Rose of Raby" moniker off my ancestry page.

I would definitely recommend this title to anyone who has an interest in the Plantagenents and/or women in history. I knew nothing about Cecily Neville or this branch of family before reading this book and I really enjoyed discovering more about her. The level of historical detail and the lengths the author has gone to, to establish what sources have merit and what is merely myth is immense and makes for an epic, in depth and informative account of a fascinating woman who achieved much in the era she lived in. Highly recommended.

Rather useful! I was pleasantly surprised it is also illustrated. Recommended to history nuts and those interested in the Cousins' War.