The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
                Richard III, 1.1


The War of the Roses...Yorks vs. Lancasters... The Cousin's War.  The War of the Roses embattled the English countryside for 30 years until Henry VII (Henry Tudor) defeated Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field and began another dynastic line... The Tudors.


The book follows Elizabeth Woodville, a widow and essentially a commoner, who catches Edward IV's eye as he is massing his army to fight for the throne against Henry VI. Their marriage was in secret and later a cause of a rift between Edward and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (known as The Kingmaker). Elizabeth and Edward are the parents of the lost Princes... the princes who entered the Tower of London never to come out.

Elizabeth lived as Queen during a time of great upheaval. Her husband was fighting to retain his throne throughout their marriage. There was speculation that she was a witch, the books expands on that (it it a historical fiction after all), but there is no real evidence that she was.

I look forward to the next book in the series... The Red Queen... it will follow Lady Margaret Beaufort.... Henry VII's mother. A very ambitious woman who ruled her son's house even after he was married. UGH! What a nightmare of a mother-in-law. 


Think I will also be reading a non-fiction about The War of the Roses to get a good overview of who's who and when things happened.  


Great family tree for the war can be found here.