Author: Philippa Gregory
First Published: August 2009
Publisher: Pocket Star
Series: The Cousins’ War #1
529 pages
I don’t think you can get away with reading historical royalty fiction without at least hearing of Philippa Gregory’s name, author of the famous The Other Boleyn Girl (which I haven’t read yet but will soon, hopefully). This is my very first book by Gregory, the first of many I think, now that I finished The White Queen. I didn’t know what to expect going in; I’m not too familiar with the War of the Roses other than really basic facts. Luckily, I found this book very engrossing from the very first few pages in, and the story was able to hold my interest tightly until the last page. In fact, all I wanted to do after finishing this book was jump straight into the next one, The Red Queen, but I’m going to try to pace myself so I don’t burn out on historical fiction so quickly, haha.
The White Queen is about Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner who catches the eye of the new York King, Edward IV. It would be in Edward’s favor to marry a French princess in order to secure an alliance between the two countries, but Edward, against his trusted friend and advisor, the Kingmaker Richard Neville’s advice, marries Elizabeth in secret, and later, crowns her as his queen. Coming from such a low position, Elizabeth ambitiously raises the ranking of her family amongst the other noble families of England, and does her best in her new queenly role, supporting her husband against Lancaster plots.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I feel like I finished it rather quickly; there were a few late-night reading sessions so that’s probably why. When I started, I just couldn’t stop, to be honest! Elizabeth is a really fascinating character and person. In this book, she’s depicted as an ambitious woman, a person who remembers those who wronged her greatly and will never give up on revenge. However, she is also depicted as very loving to her husband, her family and her children and will do anything to try to keep them safe, especially in such perilous times. I think traditionally she is vilified but from what I can tell, in this book, she’s a bit of a gray character, not completely black or white. I found it easy to relate to her.
I also really liked the legend of Melusina that was woven into the story as well. Melusina is an ancient French water goddess that Elizabeth’s family claims descent from. This causes Elizabeth and her mother to have some special powers mostly related to water (rivers, rain, etc). But it’s not blatant fantasy or anything. For example, Elizabeth wishes for a storm to stop Henry Tudor from invading London and indeed, a storm brews and stops Henry from coming. You can attribute that to Elizabeth or funky coincidence, there’s no proof, even in the book, that she’s the actual creator of the storm, even though she believes she was.
I also really liked the author’s version of what could have happened to the Princes in the Tower. Okay, that was one part of the book I did have some historical knowledge of. Gregory tells a plausible story of what could have happened to the poor boys, and she brings up excellent points as to why this theory is plausible. She really had me convinced! No one really knows what happened the princes or who killed them, if they were indeed murdered, and after reading Gregory’s version of events, I’m inclined to believe she brings up some excellent points! I’m still pretty indecisive about who the real culprit is, just because I don’t want to commit myself to one theory or another, haha.
All in all, this was a fantastic read, it kept me up way too late at nights. It got me interested in the Plantagenet dynasty, and I just had to look up more information on all the people involved in Elizabeth’s life, and revisit the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. It was so fun to read, and I can’t wait to dive into The Red Queen next! (Oh, as a P.S., this is a part of a series, but you can read the series out of order and everything will still make sense).
My Rating: 5/5
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