The will to succeed - Christine Raafat

Whenthe 15-year-old Lady Anne Clifford's father died in 1605, she was his solesurviving child and expecting to inherit the Cliffords' great northernestates. But the Earl of Cumberland leaves a will which ignores an ancientlaw and bequeaths the lands to his brother, in the belief that a prophecy byhis great-grandfather will eventually come true and return the estates to Anne. She and her mother vow to contestthe will.

Annespends the next three decades battling for what she believes is rightfullyhers. She risks everything by opposing her beloved husband, her family andfriends, the nobility, the law courts, the Archbishop of Canterbury and theKing. She steadfastly (and treasonably) refuses to accept the King's decision,whatever the consequences, but is defeated and left with the prophecy as heronly hope.

Widowed at thirty-four, she survives an anxious period alone with hertwo young daughters before surprising everyone with an ill-judged secondmarriage which gives her access to the highest in the land. But the Civil Wardestroys that power and confines the 52-year-old Anne to a grand palace inLondon for six years. Still convinced of her rights, will she ever attain "yelandes of mine inheritance"?