Alumni Moonshiner online

Willsboro, NY                     April 2, 2008                      since 1905

Reprinted from Various News Sources

   Author Anne Easter Smith illuminates 15th-century English-French-Scottish-Belgian political intrigue in her second novel, "Daughter of York."

   At the center of this Wars-of-the-Roses tempest is Margaret, daughter of Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, and Cecily Neville. When Richard, and son Edmund, earl of Rutland, perished at Wakefield in 1460, the treacherously bloody quest for the throne of King Henry VI, head of the House of Lancaster, escalated.

   In the ensuing white-rose Yorkists versus red-rose Lancastrian melee, Margaret's brother, Edward, earl of March, was crowned King Edward IV. As a princess, Margaret was a valuable asset that her rex/brother leveraged in marriage to Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Their second-cousin union was more an alliance against France and leagues away from the loving marriage of her parents.

  Anne Easter Smith (formerly Anne Courier) was a section head at Camp MacCready during the 1980’s. She has also contributed to camp in many other areas: Work at the 1812 Homestead; playing folk music for various camp functions; serving as editor of Those Elysian Fields, camp’s 100th reunion published retrospective. She lives in Boston with her husband, Scott, and has two daughters, Joanna and Kate, both former MacCready campers.

   With her first novel, "A Rose for the Crown," Smith learned what Trish Todd, her editor, looked for, and hopefully readers, too. That served her well while writing "Daughter of York." "My agent (Kirsten Manges) said to me, ”Your first book was written as an avocation. Now, it's work. Your writing is now your job.' It takes on a much different feel."

   But there were serendipitous moments. In a Richard III Society newsletter, she read an article written by Professor Marc Boone of the University of Ghent. "He's quite well known in the field of 15th-century Burgundian politics. He met me in his office and spent two hours giving me a crash course in Burgundian politics 101. (And) I thought the Wars of the Roses was complicated!"

Belgium's wonderful medieval towns were a revelation to her. She also went back to London and Greenwich Palace, now the Royal Naval College. "Margaret spent the most time there. I went there to see the perspective of the palace on the Thames and the landscape around it."

   The North Country leg of her book tour included stops in North Creek, Glens Falls, Plattsburgh and Saratoga Springs. "I'm so looking forward to coming home to Plattsburgh again, and I'm especially thrilled that the arts community that I so passionately supported when I worked at the Press-Republican is willing to support me now by hosting this event at the Cultural Center," Smith said.

VISIT ANNE SMITH’S WEB SITE