Review | The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Allow me to start off by saying that yes, Gregory tends to stray pretty drastically from history and her novels are more fiction than they are historical. And yes, she vilified one of my favorite Tudor characters Anne Boleyn in her mega-hit The Other Boleyn Girl. But I like most of her Tudor Court books nonetheless, and have always admired her for reigniting such a strong public interest in Tudor fiction, both in literature and in popular culture. And The White Queen is probably the best Gregory book I’ve read in a while. I found myself disappointed with The Other Queen, which released a year before The White Queen did, but if The White Queen is any indication of the rest of Gregory’s Cousin’s War series, then I plan on reading each and every book in this new series.

I took an instant liking to Elizabeth Woodville, who is usually portrayed in an unsympathetic light in other novels that I’ve read covering The Wars of the Roses. When I attended an author event while she was touring this book last September and had a chance to meet Philippa Gregory in person, I asked during the Q&A session if there were any facts she came across during her research that surprised her. She said that she was shocked at how many of Elizabeth Woodville’s contemporaries truly believed her to be a witch and her husband’s endless military victories the result of his wife’s spell casting. I really enjoyed how the author wove a mystical thread into this book. It wasn’t paranormal magic, but whispered ill-wishes against enemies, prayers to the pagan water goddess Melusina, whom legend said to be a relative of Elizabeth through her mother Jaquetta’s Burgundian royal family. Elizabeth and Jaquetta would inwardly attribute small daily miracles to their “witchcraft” efforts, but there is never a hocus pocus moment that proves their magic to actually be affecting situations like the weather and enemies’ sudden ailments. The magic in The White Queen is kept light and fun and the tie-in to Melusina is an endearing aspect of the story.

Gregory paints a very clever picture of what may have happened to the lost Princes in the Tower. I think her re-imagining of this scenario is partly plausible, and I thoroughly enjoyed the conspiracy theory she reenacted through her characters. The Wars of the Roses were long and complicated, with constantly switching loyalties, and I felt like this was a lite, easy-reading version of the conflict and was perfect for me to read at the beach. Newcomers to the era would do well to start their foray into Plantagenet reading here. If after reading The White Queen you think you want to read deeper into the detailed history of this time, I recommend Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour.

Supporting characters Edward IV and his brother George, Duke of Clarence were portrayed to my liking, although I didn’t particularly like this version of the third York brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Cecily Neville is conniving and pitted into the predictable evil mother-in-law position. This book really raised my interest in Margaret Beaufort, who is a minor character in this book and is fully profiled in the next book of the series, The Red Queen (in stores this Tuesday, August 3rd), which I am currently reading. The author stated on her website that the book to follow The Red Queen will be about Elizabeth’s mother Jaquetta and titled The Rivers Woman (releasing autumn 2011). I like the clever play on words – Jaquetta’s married last name is “Rivers”, yet she is descended from a water goddess and can supposedly manipulate water with her magic. I really enjoyed the way Gregory characterized Jaquetta in The White Queen and will look forward to reading her story.