Search results for ""Author Rebecca Batley""

Daughter, Wife, Princess, Widow and Queen: Anne Neville had many faces. Shakespeare presents her to us as a woman consumed with rage, bitterness and grief. He has her cursing the killer of her husband and father, before marrying him and condemning herself to despair. She rages, screams and weeps but ultimately she is shown as nothing more than a passive victim of the men who used and exploited her. This could not be further from the truth. Born into one of the most powerful dynasties in medieval England, Anne knew her worth, and her power. She was a great survivor escaping the tide of blood that consumed England not just alive but emerging with a crown on her head. Tragedy would untimely engulf her, the death of her son ended all her hopes for a lasting legacy and her premature death was subject to rumour and speculation.But there is undoubtedly more to Anne than her marriage and her end. She is fascinating, elusive, a powerbroker and very much her father's daughter. This is

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Lesbian. Lover. Lunatic. These are just some of the words usually used to describe Ann Walker, the oft overlooked wife of Anne Lister, better known by some as Gentleman Jack. Ann was one half of England's first same-sex marriage and yet the rainbow plaque that marks their historic union on the wall of the Holy Trinity Church, York, features Ann's name in a font only half the size of her wife's. Her story has been long forgotten. Born into wealth and privilege Ann was one of the most eligible heiresses in 19th century Yorkshire and the question on everyone's lips in 1830's Halifax was why a respectable young heiress, with property, fortune and connection risked everything, even her freedom, to become entangled with the notorious Gentleman Jack? The answer to this question reveals a woman of immense courage, faith, and determination, but her voice has remained silent .until now. Within the depths of Ann's diary - discovered by Diane Halford in 2020 - the answers to some of the above questions can be found, as can insight into Ann as an independent woman. The life of Ann is worthy of its own narrative and it is time for Ann to step out of the shadow of Gentleman Jack and tell her own story.

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