As a general rule, I don't read Philippa Gregory's novels. After the disaster I had with The Other Boleyn Girl, I thought I'd never read another Gregory novel out of principle. However, I know it's a bad idea to hold a grudge, especially against someone I've never met, so I thought I would give it another shot. What I discovered was enlightening, amusing, and not half bad.
The White Queen is the first of two (so far) novels in what Gregory dubs "The Cousins' War" series. This refers to the wars in the mid-1400s between the royal houses of Lancaster and York (The War of the Roses). This novel in particular takes on the tale of Edward IV's wife, the lady Elizabeth Grey, and her journey from poor widow to Queen of England to widowed mother in sanctuary (twice).
What I noticed about my reaction was that, unlike with The Other Boleyn Girl, I had no real knowledge of the details of this period of English history, so I had no biases one way or the other. With The White Queen, I could read it was a completely blank slate, and I have to say now that Gregory has some great skill with a pen (or more likely a keyboard). She paints Elizabeth, not so much in a flattering light, but in a fair light. Of course, since this is told from Elizabeth's perspective, there is a sense of entitlement and righteousness when it comes to how she describes dealing with her enemies. Still, I feel that she is a character that I can sympathize with, until I saw how her ambition cost her the lives of almost everyone she loved. After that, I stopped sympathizing, and fairly wanted to slap her, except that she's a fictionalized version of a woman that's been deceased for more than 600 years. I'll change that to a mental slap in the face. That's better.
I won't try to summarize this novel, because you could honestly read a history book about the War of the Roses and get a fair idea about what happened (historically) here. I did enjoy the story of Melusina, a pagan water goddess whose legend was attached to Elizabeth's family. It put a little of the supernatural into the story that was well-placed, but the novel did not depend on it. While witchcraft or anything close to it was punishable by death (the favorite modes of execution being the dunking chair and burning at the stake), Elizabeth and her mother, and later Elizabeth's oldest daughter, do have some sort of powers. These could be just in their own minds, but I liked the way that Gregory incorporated them, and used them to sometimes explain certain historical oddities of the time period.
This is another novel to make you pity and envy the royals and aristocrats of the past. They lived privileged lives in times of peace, yet the politics they were faced with could be hurtful, painful, and one wrong move could and did throw the country into civil war. The ones who suffered the most were the children, who lost either their parents or their lives so that someone else could sit on the throne of England. I very much like this novel, and, now that I know what to look for in a Gregory novel (ie anything she wrote not involving Henry VIII or Elizabeth I), I can look forward to reading more of her works, and know that I will probably have a fun time while I read them.
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