Accounts of the Wars of the Roses are dominated by men – kings and kingmakers, traitors and tyrants. But the wars were equally shaped by women, driving the action and risking their lives to secure the throne for their sons. From Cecily Neville, dominant matriarch of the House of York, to Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudor dynasty, Annie traces the risks these women took and the prices they paid.

Annie Garthwaite will be in conversation with Sarah Latham Phillips MA, Freelance Lecturer and teacher in Art History & English Literature, during an evening event at St Torney's Church on 14th August.

Answering questions and reading from The King’s Mother, Annie will describe all that these women did and were driven to do to win the crown for their sons and become King’s Mother themselves. “This,” she says, “is a story of mothers and sons; of maternal ferocity and female ambition – and of all the terror that families can inflict upon themselves.”

And, by focusing on what these women wanted, suffered, knew and did, The King’s Mother gives us a fresh take on some of English history’s most enduring mysteries: Was Edward IV’s marriage bigamous and his children bastards? Why were the children of great families married at such a young age and used as political pawns? Why did Edward order the execution of his brother George, Duke of Clarence, years after forgiving his treason? And in the year of the tenth anniversary of the reinternment of Richard III, did he really murder his brother’s children, the Princes in the Tower?

The women were there – and they know the truth.

This is St Torney's first literary event, and is a fitting venue to explore the stories of these women, for it has its own Wars of the Roses story...

The Courtenay family, the Earls of Exeter, held the local manor of Landreyne in North Hill, just over the border from Devon. William Courtenay was to marry Katherine Plantagenet, (1495), the second youngest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, sister to the Princes in the Tower and to Elizabeth of York, who became Henry VII’s queen.

Cecily (Viking, Penguin 2021) was named a 'top pick' by The Times and Sunday Times, a 'Best Book of 2021' by independent bookshops and Waterstones, and has recently been optioned for television. The King's Mother (Viking, Penguin 2024) was named ‘Book of the Month’ by The Times immediately upon publication.

The event takes place on Thursday, 14th August, with doors opening at 6.15pm and the talk starting at 7pm. There will also be a book signing. Tickets are £10, and include a glass of wine.

For more information about the event, go to https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/whats-on/annie-garthwaite

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