Elizabeth, a young widow of extraordinary beauty catches the eye of the “To Be Crowned” King Edward. When he tries to seduce her Elizabeth holds strong for as attracted to Edward as she is, she does not want to bring shame onto her family. Yet Edward can think of no other woman than Elizabeth so he marries her in secret to buy his time as to when he can announce this marriage to an ordinary girl, not one of royalty as his hand was promised….
fact mixes with fiction as the story unfolds of Elizabeth’s two sons and the mystery that surrounds them and the Tower of London to this day as an unsolved mystery, lost to the winds… and the sea.
SO…. is it good to be King? Apparently. King Edward is constantly off in battle, hanging with the guys, and as time goes on women a plenty on the side.
AND if you ever thought to be a Queen would be sitting in the lap of luxury – spend a little time with this book. Elizabeth is constantly defending her household, at times sent into hiding for her and her children’s safety, and of course putting up with the Kings extra curricular activities.
I was first introduced to Philippa Gregory with The Other Boleyn Girl. I love love loved that book. In fact this was the first book our book club read and all agreed on that we enjoyed it very much. It was Philippa Gregory who first gave me the taste of historical fiction and I liked it. And I wanted more.
The White Queen was all I had hoped for… not only a fascinating fictional take of the interweaving of the life and times of King Edward and Queen Elizabeth, but also Philippa’s magical touch of mixing the non fiction throughout. As I marveled at all the things that Queen Elizabeth did to ensure her childrens future as royalty… I had to wonder if her own ambitions would not be the death of them all….
Going into this read I was not aware of the true mystery lying within these pages… one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in English history.
On Amazon this audio is $12.81 currently and well worth it. The series, entitles The Cousins War continues with The Red Queen, which is about Margaret Beaufort and her founding of the greatest dynasty England has ever known, The Tudors. Before you groan about this being a trilogy, fear not, each book stands alone wonderfully and there was no cliff hanger at the end of White Queen, although I would like to continue on with these books/audio.
Highly engaging, Philippa Gregory herself says at the end of this book it is more fact than fiction.
Amazon Rating
Goodreads Review
I purchased this audio from audible.com
Book Journey 
Terrific review, Sheila! I’ll have to put this on my list.
Happy weekend!
I think you would like it Beth!
Thank you for this review. I have this book on my TBR shelf and am aching for it!
Carol Wong
I was excited when I seen this series coming out Carol, Philippa writes a great historical story!
I’ve been wanting to read something by Philippa Gregory…and I LOVE the covers of her books.
Sounds like a captivating tale….
She is an incredible writer who feeds fiction ingot the gaps of historical facts but in a very well way with much research. Once into the read, you devourer it!
I completely adored The Other Boleyn Girl and ended up buying like three other books by her, and for some unknown reason, I never read another one. What the heck is that all about? 🙂
I loved that book two Trisha… I was fascinated by it and so shocked how much I enjoyed it!
A great review! 🙂
I’ve yet to read a Philippa Gregory book, but having read this I think I’ll have to pick one up.
She is a brilliant writer Nikki-ann, I bet you will really enjoy her.
I used to read this type of book almost exclusively but then got hooked on mysteries and haven’t gone back. I did know about the two boys and when we were at the Tower of London a few years ago I was so disappointed that the tower they were held in was closed for repairs. It had gotten dangerously unsafe. Always wondered what really happened to those boys, and feel awful about how frightened they must have been.
How exciting to have been there… I am curious about the boys, there are claims two skulls had been found but for some reason no testing was done on them to determine age or sex…
Awful times that is for sure… I dont think it is good to be the Queen. 😀
I want to read this series for sure. I’m totally intrigued by their lives!!
Oh you will be hooked then Staci…. it was really interesting to hear how much the Queen actually has to do… this is no easy job… and of course there is that whole “off with your head!” thing 😀
I read thjis a while ago and liked it very much.
It is a good one Mystica 🙂
I’m a huge Philippa Gregory fan and really enjoyed this one too but The Red Queen even more so. Just have to get to The Lady of the Rivers now 🙂
Oh…. you see what you did there Sheree? Now I have to read Red Queen soon! LOL 😀
I am enjoying the Cousin’s War series (there are actually two more books coming, so it won’t just be a trilogy). I think they’re better than most of what she has written since The Other Boleyn Girl.
OOH two more? I did not know that! Awesome!
I came back to Historical Fiction recently prior to then Gregory was the only author I would read of this genre. i still think she is one of the best, looking forward to getting hold of a copy of this one.
She is fantastic and I learn so much while reading her 😉
I’ve stood in book stores staring her stuff down before and still haven’t picked any of it up, but I think it’s time. I need to finally put a book of hers on my TBR list.
She is an incredible historical fiction author! I hope you enjoy her. The Other Boleyn Girl was so fantastic!
I just finished listening to The Red Queen and found it very interesting and entertaining. Although I have read and enjoyed several of her books, this is the first one I listened to. The audio component really added to the whole experience!
Susan this was a fantastic listen wasnt it? I just picked up the Red Queen!