The White Queen: A Novel. - Couverture souple

'It would be hard to make history more entertaining, lively or engaging' Sunday Express

'Queen of the historical novel' Mail on Sunday

'Gregory brings to life the sights, smells and textures of 16th-century England' Kate Mosse, Financial Times

'Rollicking, page-turning stuff' Metro

'Of Woodville herself, Gregory makes a fascinating heroine; strong, ambitious, vengeful, beautiful and tinged with more than a hint of witchcraft. Popular history at its best' Daily Mail

‘History comes gloriously alive as widowed Elisabeth Woodville of the House of Lancaster seduces and marries Yorkist King Edward IV. From then on conflict, betrayal and murder stalk her life as the Queen of England’ Mirror

‘As with The Other Boleyn Girl, Gregory’s clever blend of fact and fiction is a lot racier than the average historical biography ... her tale of Elizabeth Woodville’s tenacious fight for her family’s position during the Wars of the Roses oozes sex appeal and suspense’ Glamour magazine

‘Lady Margaret Beaufort – cold, clever, calculating – will stop at nothing to put her son Henry Tudor on the throne. Gregory is very good at describing the bitchiness of the women in this tale of dynastic rivalry’ Telegraph

'Entrancing' Telegraph

'an informative and riveting read from start to finish' Edinburgh Evening News

'Gregory brings this period of history and another strong female character to life with the same colour and intrigue she applies to all her novels' Glasgow Evening Times

'A gripping read' South Wales Echo

'...whips along with lashings of historical intrigue' Company

'Gregory's novels are, in fact, meticulously researched pieces of historical scholarship. For each novel she immerses herself in dozens of primary and secondary sources, before transforming them into vivid fiction' Sunday Telegraph

The novel opens in 1464 with the seduction, aided by witchcraft, of the reigning Plantaganent King Edward IV by the famously beautiful Elizabeth Woodville. He is of the family of the white rose, the Plantaganents of York, and he
and his two brothers, Richard and George, form a ruling elite.

Elizabeth becomes queen of a country that is far from stable, torn apart by the civil war which would later be called The War of the Roses, but at the time was called The Cousin's War, fought by the Lancastrian and Yorkist heirs to
the throne of England. After capturing and killing his York rival Henry VI, the famously glamorous King Edward dies suddenly, leaving Elizabeth's twelve-year-old son king. Elizabeth attempts to put her family in place as regent, but Edward's brother Richard becomes regent, then King Richard III, and he takes Elizabeth's two sons to the Tower,
where they are imprisoned to prevent any further claim to the throne by Elizabeth and her children.

The White Queen is the story of a common woman who becomes queen by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights viciously for the success of her family, and a woman whose two sons become the famous missing princes in the Tower. In The White Queen, Philippa Gregory presents the most famous unsolved English mystery from her unique and fascinating perspective, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.