Cynthia Haggard

Cynthia Haggard

About

Cynthia Sally Haggard was born and reared in Surrey, England. About 30 years ago she surfaced in the United States, inhabiting the Mid-Atlantic region as she wound her way through four careers: violinist, cognitive scientist, medical writer, and novelist. 

 

Cynthia graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Cambridge MA, in June 2015.

Her first novel, Thwarted Queen, a frustrating tale (hence the title) of Lady Cecylee (Cecily) Neville (1415-1495) who was nearly crowned Queen of England, was shortlisted for many awards, including the 2012 Eric Hoffer New Horizon Award for debut authors. To date, sales have surpassed 38,000 copies.

Her second novel, Farewell My Life, a Cinderella-ish tale with not-so-charming princes who inhabit the edgy setting of 1920s Berlin, won a Pinnacle Award (2019) and a Distinguished Favorite (New York City Big Book Awards, 2019).

 

When she’s not annoying everyone by insisting her fictional characters are more real than they are, Cynthia likes to go for long walks, knit something glamorous, cook in her wonderful kitchen, and play the piano. You can visit her at www.spunstories.com.

Friends in High Places

Friends in High Places

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Description

<p>FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES<br /><br />At barely nineteen, Angelica Donovan became one of the more successful winners of the T.V. show Our Next Super Model. The world assumed she was destined for a happy, fairy tale life as ‘Angel,’ the beautiful girl who was living the dream; sadly, that wasn’t to be the case. As the years passed, she flashed her million dollar smile to all her fans and fought to stay on top in a profession where you never knew who it was safe to trust while the fashion industry took big bites out of her heart and soul. And trust was a constant challenge for Angel due to the painful childhood secret she guarded as carefully as she did her heart. As a result, she never did find her true love on earth.<br /><br />When she wakes up ‘dead’ from a heart condition a month before her thirty-fifth birthday, Angel is at first relieved to find there is no death, just a change of state, like ice to water, and then she’s scared because her biggest and most important adventure is about to begin.<br /><br />Angelica is chosen to be an angel in training as a spirit guide for three souls on earth! Her assignment is to help two women to gain the courage and confidence to find, recognize and embrace the love that had eluded Angel in life. But her biggest challenge will be to save a very special little girl from the same evil experience that had poisoned Angel’s own earthly happiness and altered the course of her life.<br /><br />Will Angel be able to heal her own shattered soul in the process? And will the three souls she is guiding be able to recognize her, not as a ghostly threat, but as one of those ‘friends in high places’ we all have; the kind who often end up earning their wings.<br /><br /> </p>

Story Behind The Book

I started to write this novel about Cecylee Neville when I heard that Michael K. Jones, a British historian, had been combing through the archives of Rouen cathedral and discovered that Cecylee's husband Richard of York was absent for 5 weeks during the summer of 1441. Nine months later, Cecylee's son Edward, who later became King Edward IV, was born. This piece of research seemed to give credence to the idea that Edward was illegitimate. I wrote the novel because I had a burning question: What on earth did Cecylee say to her husband when he returned home from fighting the French?

Reviews

<ul class="xoxo sidebar-list"><li class="widget widget_text"> <div class="textwidget"> <p>“THWARTED QUEEN is a gripping, well-researched historical novel, revealing a violent age. Cecylee and the other characters are well-drawn, with great subtlety and depth.&quot; Lindsay Townsend, author of TO TOUCH THE KNIGHT.</p> <p>&quot;The author immerses the reader in a complex and vivid world that is depicted with persuasive confidence.&quot; Curtis Sittenfeld, author of AMERICAN WIFE.</p> <p>&quot;THWARTED QUEEN is a wonderful novel to introduce Cecily Neville and historical biographical fiction to young female readers.&quot; Mirella Patzer, author of THE PENDANT.</p> <p>&quot;The characters in THWARTED QUEEN were very developed with great personality and really brought history to life.&quot; Star, from THE BIBLIOPHILIC BOOK BLOG.</p> <p>&quot;The pacing is phenomenal. THWARTED QUEEN is eminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. I anxiously await a second book&quot; Phillip Tang of PHILLIP TANG BOOK REVIEW BLOG.</p> </div> </li> </ul>