The White Queen was great, and is perhaps my favorite Philippa Gregory book of the three I've now read. While I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, I think it was titillating more than anything, like a Harlequin romance with real people. This one, though, seemed a little more grounded in events (and be warned, SPOILERS AHEAD).The story focuses on Elizabeth Grey (née Woodville), who secretly married King Edward IV, even though she was a Lancastrian and he a Yorkist. Edward manages to bring a decent amount of peace to the realm, after keeping the Lancastrian king Henry VI away from the throne and fighting off the surrounding rebellions, but nothing lasts forever...and the book ends with (historically) two young princes locked up in the Tower of London, where they mysteriously vanish, their fate still unknown today. There's actually so much intrigue in this time period that I'm kind of surprised that this saga isn't nearly as popular as the Tudors. (Especially since these people are totally entwined with the Tudors - Elizabeth and Edward's daughter is Henry VIII's mother. This is the true beginning to that story.)
Which brings me to my only real criticism - I think Gregory ended The White Queen too early. Elizabeth's mother practices witchcraft and teaches her daughter some tricks - and at the end of the book, as Elizabeth and her children are taking sanctuary in Westminister Abbey, she and her eldest daughter put a curse on the person responsible for the (presumed) murder of her sons, that the murderer's son should die, and then his grandson, and his line end. The idea is that they'll watch and see what happens to the people around them, and by the curse, figure it out. King Richard III, a potential pepetrator, warns her about cursing people - that basically, once unleashed, you can't stop it, and you never know how it may come back to you (a sentiment echoed by her mother earlier on in the book).
Knowing how the history lesson ends, I was anticipating a bittersweet ending to this book - but The White Queen doesn't take it all the way there, and to its detriment, I think. Because in the book, Richard III's son dies and the implication, sort of, is that he is the murderer, though he has the least motive (which Gregory later says in the Author's Note). The likeliest historical perpetrators are the Tudors, the future Henry VII and his uncle Jasper, who have everything to gain by offing co-claimants. And I really thought that's where the book was going since Henry VII's line dies out within two generations (and both firstborn sons die before age 20) AND in the end, Elizabeth should regret cursing this man's progeny, since she's effectively just cursed her daughter, who ends up marrying him. She's desperate to regain the throne for her family, whom she sees as the rightful heirs, and she (fictionally) kills them off. It's satisfying and it sucks. (Though perhaps Gregory is saving it for the next book? The Author's Note says this is the first in a series about the Plantagenets...though I can't imagine Richard III and Henry VII duking it out can make an entire book.)
Anyway...my only other (minor) criticism is that Gregory doesn't label the kings (for example, Edward is just called Edward, not Edward IV), and it took me awhile to orient them historically. Which brings me to names - did the English only have like four names available to them? Everyone in this book is named Edward, Richard, Henry, or Elizabeth. Confusion!
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