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“If there is love enough, then nothing - not nature, not even death itself - can come between two who love each other.” The White Queen is the sequel to The Lady of the Rivers and they both had their strengths and weaknesses. They each tell the story of a powerful woman in a kingdom ruled by men. These women fight for their lives, their loves and their children - out of a sense of survival as well as out of ambition and a hunger for power.Even though their stories are intriguing and impressive,
Here is a thought that has probably never occurred to anyone while reading a Philippa Gregory novel: You know what this book needs? More politics!Gregory is best known for her fictionalized tales about the lives of the Kings and Queens of England, most famously The Other Boleyn Girl. This is a genre I like to call Historical Harlequin, whereby there may be some actual fact but it is mostly sappy, glorified romance in what was probably just a time period more miserable than the 90’s. She turns fa...
After reading The Other Boleyn Girl - I loved Philippa Gregory, and would pick up virtually anything she'd written.I watched the BBC adaption of The White Queen which I thoroughly enjoyed, so went for the book series. All four that I've read (The Lady of the Rivers, The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter) so far have an incredible focus on the powerful women during the Tudor Court and the War of the Roses. I knew very little about this time period but Gregory makes it easy t...
I'm honestly worried for the other half-billion novels written by Philippa Gregory.This novel is only slightly less dull than the (chronological) first, The Lady of the Rivers. Once again it just spans too long a period, meaning that there's not a lot of attachment to what's happening. There are a lot of battles, a ton of births and deaths, and keeping track of claims to the throne is about as easy as keeping track of Australia's Prime Minister.Our protagonist, Elizabeth - the titular White Quee...
2013 update: It's been three years since I wrote this review. Just read the book again and my opinion remains the same. -----I have a confession to make: I’ve been known to read trashy books. Now, this isn’t something that I like to shout from the rooftops, but if you spent your days reading Chaucer, you would unwind with something less cerebral too. I’ve done the romance novel thing, but the formula becomes grating after a while. So, my most turned to brainless literature is mediocre historical...
This was my first Philippa Gregory novel, and it was such an excellent introduction to the author and genre. It actually inspired me to read more historical fiction by a variety of writers. I like Gregory’s style because the history, and intensity, is not sacrificed by the romance in the plot. Indeed, the romance is a mere element of the story, and not the story itself. So, now, many years later, I’m glad I picked this book up. I like Gregory's Elizabeth; she has such sharp claws. A woman who k...
After showcasing as many Tudor royals as any one reader can comfortably stomach, Philippa Gregory strives to show us another English Royal family as equally interesting. The White Queen launches her War of the Roses trilogy, and focuses on Elizabeth Woodville. Gregory’s Woodville falls instantly in love with the King, and she ascends the throne at a dangerous time of civil war. An incredibly cut throat period in which each claimant to the throne has a much right as the next, and the alliances of...
Gregory is a historian, first. Her Ph.D. from Edinburgh University informs her approach to her fascination with 15th and 16th century Britain. This book is a prelude to many of her novels on Tudor England. It concerns the twenty years beginning in 1464 when the country was still roiled by the War of the Roses, the battle between Plantagenet cousins, York and Lancaster, for England’s throne. For this novel, Gregory chooses to parallel the folktale of the water “goddess”, Melusina, with the life o...
I really enjoyed The White Queen, it had been a while since I read a book from this period. No one does it like Ms. Gregory! Very interesting cousins against cousins tales of love, treachery, death, battle won and lost. The ruthlessness of the royalty to stay in power and the individual prices they pay, death of their family, children, themselves. As always the characters are well described and Elizabeth is drawn in great depth. The author makes the characters seem real and the settings are vivi...
