Historical Fiction Review: “Red Rose, White Rose” by Joanna Hickson

“The sound of the key turning evoked vivid memories of my detention in Brancepeth Castle and the grim realization that I had been imprisoned three times in my life and each time it had been at the hands of a member of my own family.” And you thought your family was crazy. Fortunately for us, Joanna Hickson’s novel is a reminder that things could be so much worse, especially if you are Duchess Cecily. “Red Rose, White Rose” focusses on what seems like the endless war between the Red Roses of Lancaster and the White Roses of York, aka the Wars of the Roses, through the eyes of Cecily, mother of whom would eventually become Edward IV. The Neville family was both a big and complicated family – Cecily was the youngest of up to twenty-two children (and they were just the legitimate ones). The story is also narrated by her half-brother and focusses on her youth and the complicated friction in the Neville family. She even has a fling with one of her cousins (the author points out, however, that this never happened in real life). One thing that becomes clear as the story goes on is that this war was a family feud that had got a bit out of hand and had eventually involved a whole country. In this great family, there were rivalries over properties and relations broke down between Cecily’s husband, the Duke of York and King Henry VI. Subsequently, a terrible cycle of revenge and violence persisted and sadly resulted in four deaths in Cecily’s direct family. “Anne had turned against us at St. Albans and there was no telling how much she might hate us now; I was horribly conscious of the fact that the worst enemies were often relatives.” This is definitely the message of the novel. War, particularly in a family, was not a glorious thing at all. It was bloody and senseless. The story is a reminder of the futility of war. Along with other events, it is yet another warning from history and this book was very good at conveying that serious message.