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.
Of course, this novel is wonderful. Of course it has Liz Gilbert’s wonderful style, now transmuted so that it sounds like something out of the 19th century. Of course there are eccentric, […]
I don’t know much about Elizabeth Gilbert as a writer as I don’t read magazines like GQ or Esquire, Allure or Real Simple, because I don’t read short stories or articles, not […]
This is an amazing story, written by an amazing writer. What a great stylist Liz Gilbert is! I LOVED the carefully crafted casualness of her prose style – a gossip at the […]
This has to be the first novel, or at least the first novel in a long time of Jodi Picoult’s that DIDN’T end in a courtroom! Which was refreshing. As usual, Jodi […]
It is fascinating to see how Jodi Picoult makes her characters come alive. One of the main characters, Luke Warren, is lying in a hospital bed, in a coma throughout this entire […]
As I experienced this novel in audio form, I just want to take some time to praise narrator Emily Lawrence who did a flawless job of inhabiting all of the characters! Now […]
If you loved THE CURSE BREAKER trilogy, which started as a retelling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and then evolved into a story about two brothers ruling two kingdoms (Emberfall and Sylh […]
Like many other readers, I loved the ending of this novel. How wonderful to go from a situation where everyone is rattling their sabers, preparing for a brutal war, only to have […]
Despite what many readers say, I found this second volume just as riveting as the first. It seemed obvious to me that author Brigid Kemmerer would want to explore Grey’s character further […]
I love folk tales and I love to see what talented authors do with their retelling. This version of BEAUTY & THE BEAST was amazing! It was so refreshing NOT to have […]
What a magnificent novel! Here, author Jodi Picoult takes the issue of Gay Rights, and how ugly something personal can turn in the hands of lawyers, politicians, and pastors in their quest […]
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this to all of you, but this summer my big project is a complete rebranding of myself as author and a complete revamp of my website! […]
This has to be the weirdest piece of writing I have ever experienced and I honestly don’t think I would have had the patience to read it if it hadn’t been for […]
Just wanted to announce that my new Patreon Page is up and running! For those of you who do not know, Patreon is a Membership Platform that allows content creators to run […]
How happy I am to have discovered both Jacqueline Winspear AND Maisie Dobbs! What a treat to read about an intelligent young woman, born poor and thus condemned to a life of […]
HAUNTED BY DREAMS: What if you keep having embarrassing dreams? And your husband knows? What do you do then? THE END OF CHILDHOOD: What if your Master begins flirting? Would you be […]
Jodi Picoult’s HOUSE RULES is an astonishing novel, overflowing with empathy towards those extremely bright kids whose lives are marred by Asperger’s. Jacob Hunt knows more about forensic science at 18 than […]
As someone who is roughly the same age as Diana, Princess of Wales, and who, as a young woman, found Diana so compelling I wanted to be her best friend (like millions […]
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