Annie Garthwaite’s debut novel Cecily won immediate acclaim and is a firm Monty Lit Fest favourite. So, we’re delighted to welcome Annie to this year’s Festival to celebrate the paperback publication of her sequel, The King’s Mother.

It’s 1461. Through blood and battle, Cecily de Neville’s son Edward has gained England’s throne and she stands at his shoulder, first to claim the title The King’s Mother. But to win a throne is not to keep it. As brother betrays brother, and trusted cousins turn treacherous, other mothers rise up to fight for other sons. For there can be only one King, and only one King’s Mother.

Hear from Annie as she takes us from the Wars of the Roses to the dawn of the Tudor age with a story of mothers and sons; of maternal ferocity and female ambition – of all they can build and all they can destroy.

Annie Garthwaite grew up in a working-class community in the northeast of England and studied at the University of Wales before embarking on an international business career. In 2017 she studied for an MA in Creative Writing at Warwick University where she wrote her debut novel, Cecily, published by Penguin in 2021. It 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 TV. Annie’s second novel, The King’s Mother, was published in 2024 and immediately named ‘Book of the Month’ by The Times.