The White Queen is not my first novel by Philippa Gregory, and I would also wager that it's not my favorite either. (Sorry - The Other Boleyn Girl is still my fave!) It's not Philippa Gregory's fault - in 1400s England, there are several Edwards, Richards, and Henrys strewn about the book, and somewhere in the middle it became a bit confusing. Plus, the research for the 1400s is less abundant than the later royal archives, so therefore the author has to plug in the gaps between coronations, marriages, births, etc. Plus the battles...soo many battles! It was called War of the Roses for a reason...
I love the story about how Elizabeth Woodville became Queen, but I had to 'google' why she was called The White Queen - even after finishing I didn't know. She is called The White Queen because the House of York's Symbol was a White Rose (as compared to the House of Lancaster's symbol of the Red Rose). There is a Starz miniseries based on this book and I watched the first few episodes streaming on Amazon Prime recently - VERY WELL DONE! Let's just say that Max Irons as King Edward is royally cute... As of August 2016, Philippa Gregory lists her historical novels as one series: The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels. Like the name tells it, it is a series about the two British royal houses, the history being told through the female narrative. I have personally read more books about the Tudor dynasty, so it was interesting to read the earlier history about the Plantagenets. I don't think any of this information would be considered spoiler alerts...but beware. I was looking up Elizabeth Woodville online and BAM - spoilers galore. (These books are all based on historical research, after all...) (argh) If you decide to give read any of Philippa Gregory's novels, here is the reading chart with an author suggested list of how to move through them. Happy Royal Reading! www.howtoread.me/plantagenet-tudor-novels-reading-order-philippa-gregory/
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