Tuesday 9 September 2014

The White Queen



After watching 'The White Queen' television series in 2013, I swiftly went to Waterstones to buy a copy of the first book entitled (surprisingly) 'The White Queen'. However, once GSCE revision started, the time for reading disappeared. As a result I was not able to start enjoying 'The White Queen' until the summer holidays of 2014 - and yes, I did enjoy it!

The novel is from the perspective of Lady Elizabeth Woodville (a.k.a. The White Queen). She starts the novel as a Lancastrian, but after the death of her husband, she decides to captivate the heart of the new York king, Edward IV. This secures Elizabeth's role as Queen of England. Whilst, the battles are not the focus of the book, as literature based in the War of the Roses they are occasionally mentioned (purely for the benefit of context). The longing for power in the 15th century converts the war from a 'Cousins' War' to a 'Brothers' War'.


The White Queen's popularity remains controversial within the history as it is clearly historic fiction due to the regular use of enchantments and curses. Personally, I do not think that this subtracts from the well researched novel as the facts are maintained and the witchcraft even co-exists with a popular belief from the time that the Lady Rivers was a witch due to her heritage from the water goddess, Melusina. Gregory has also admitted in an interview included in the book, that the way in which she presents the historic mystery of the Princes in the Tower is her own idea as to what happened, because in reality nobody knows what happened to them.

EG

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