Cynthia Sally Haggard was born and reared in Surrey, England. About 30 years ago she surfaced in the United States, settling in the Mid-Atlantic region as she wound her way through four careers: violinist, cognitive scientist, medical writer, and novelist.
In June, 2015, Cynthia graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Cambridge MA.
Her first novel, "Thwarted Queen," a frustrating tale (hence the title) of a woman 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 and 1930s Berlin during the rise of the Nazis, won a Pinnacle Award for Historical Fiction (2019) and was a Distinguished Favorite for the 2019 New York City Big Book Awards.
BRIGID OF KILDARE is a skillfully-written well-paced novel by author Marie Benedict, writing under the name Heather Terrell. Like many such novels, it is a braided narrative. However, the present day (which […]
It is always fascinating to read earlier works by authors who have now become well-known. Kristin Hannah’s magnificent novel THE NIGHTINGALE gave her well-deserved fame, but prior to writing that novel, she […]
After reading HOUSE OF GUCCI I was dying to find out more about the Versace family, and this book didn’t disappoint. My favorite part was the beginning, which described what it was […]
What an amazing story! Who could resist a tale about Murder, Madness, Glamour & Greed? This volume was not solely focused on the murder of Maurizio Gucci. Instead, it provided a […]
It had never occurred to me before that Kristin Hannah’s novels resemble Jodi Picoult’s. Like Jodi Picoult, this novel has a punning title. Like her, the novel takes place in small-town USA […]
Lorna Kepler, a stunning loner, dies suddenly. Her body is so badly decomposed when someone eventually finds it in the lonely hut she called home, the cops think she may have died […]
I am puzzled as to why so many authors have recently taken to writing braided narratives as they are very hard to do. (Especially for debut authors.) Inevitably the part set in […]
For those of you who may not know, Norfolk is in a remote part of the UK, so it is no wonder that old tales about enormous dark dogs whose bark is […]
Wendell Jaffe disappeared five years ago, gone overboard somewhere near Baja where his ketch was found. But his body never surfaced. His death was hard on his family, his sons aged 12 […]
As author Marie Benedict notes, if you look at those famous war photos of husband Winston Churchill (1873-1965) he is ALWAYS alone. It is fascinating to think that his wife Clementine may […]
What a book! I am astounded at how author Stephanie Dray took THREE narratives, braided them together, made each of them interesting and made the whole novel comprehensible. Quite a feat of […]
Is David Barney innocent? Six years ago a jury absolved him of the murder of his wife Isabelle, letting him saunter off into the sunset and avail himself of Isabelle’s millions. But […]
No-one is more surprised than myself that I am such a fan of the Kinsey Milhone series. After all, I live in the past, preferring long skirts when spending a day at […]
I had never heard of Kristin Hannah before I read her 2016 masterpiece THE NIGHTINGALE (which won the 2016 Audie for Fiction.) That book was special, as it combines an historical fictional […]
I loved reading this novel, even though a problem emerged towards the end of it (which I’ll get to later.) Who wouldn’t love a story about a young girl (Willa is 18 […]
What a difference a medium makes! I tried to listen to the audio version of this, and couldn’t get into it, which was a great surprise to me as I love Mary […]
The cover to most editions of this novel shows a man and a woman from the waist down, standing barefoot on the sand. The man holds a rough branch for a stick. […]
What an interesting book this was, so moving, so gritty (pun intended) so grim. It is 1920s America in the Texas Panhandle. Protagonist Elsa lives with abusive parents who demean everything she […]
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