Title: The White Princess          

Author: Philippa Gregory

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Touchstone

Format: Paperback

Pages: 544

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Caught between loyalties, the mother of the Tudors must choose between the red rose and the white.

When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth field, he knows he must marry the princess of the enemy house—Elizabeth of York—to unify a country divided by war for nearly two decades.

But his bride is still in love with his slain enemy, Richard III—and her mother and half of England dream of a missing heir, sent into the unknown by the White Queen. While the new monarchy can win power, it cannot win hearts in an England that plots for the triumphant return of the House of York.

Henry’s greatest fear is that somewhere a prince is waiting to invade and reclaim the throne. When a young man who would be king leads his army and invades England, Elizabeth has to choose between the new husband she is coming to love and the boy who claims to be her beloved lost brother: the rose of York come home at last.

Review:

I absolutely loved this book! I’m completely captured by the story of Elizabeth Woodville and her family that I loved reading about her daughter and her experience married to the person who came in and captured the throne!

Elizabeth of York was forced to marry Henry Tudor when he won the throne at the battle of Bosworth Field. This marriage ended the War of the Roses and combined the Lancaster and the York rival sections of the family.

Elizabeth does not want to marry someone she believes usurped the throne, and feels like she is betraying her family by marrying her enemy. It was interesting to read about a woman who had to marry someone out of duty and not for love, which was quite common back then, but to hate your husband would be terrible.

I thought that Gregory captured Elizabeth really well, and that while she was spunky and brave, she understood what she needed to do to survive. It must of been a terrible predicament but she tried to manage it with grace!

Happy reading!