Cousins' War (3) - The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Part 3/6: The White Queen (Die weiße Königin, La reine clandestine). I read the 436 pages in English, originally published 2009.
Our story starts in the Cousins' War, the War of Roses in England. Elizabeth Woodville has been widowed and needs to have her title and wealth restored. Not for her, but for her little, fatherless boys. But as the beautiful, young woman stands before the new king, there's suddenly more than his pardon she wants. But a successful marriage between a noble woman of the Lancasters and the new King of York seems impossible. Intrigues, violence and mistrust rule Elizabeth's life, while she herself tries to be a good queen, tie her family to the royal house and help her husband with a little witchcraft... she isn't the heiress of a water goddess for nothing, after all...
This book is well written, the relationships between the different characters are very interesting. The story itself is very close to what happened back than. It has some fantasy elements (witchcraft) in it, but it fits, because Elizabeth Woodville and her mother often were accused of it.
To the characters themselves: I like Elizabeth's family. Her brother Anthony is nice, I'm sorry for his ending. He is a poet and he doesn't take power and himself too seriously. Her boys Thomas and Richard are sweet as well. It's kind of sad that they only have such a small part in the story. But what I find annoying are the amounts of Richard's and Edward's. Seriously, she has five boys. Two of them are named Richard. Then, she has a husband and a son called Edward. The princes have two cousins, who are called Edward, and two of their uncles and their grandfathers are were Richards. That's not helpful. The same goes for Elizabeth and Margaret. The whole series are full of them! This isn't Philippa Gregory's fault, of course. But it makes the story unnecessarily complicated.
What is Philippa Gregory's fault though is that this part and the first part of the series don't really fit together. Mainly Jaquetta and Richard. Richard's character doesn't fit to the Richard Jaquetta describes in The Lady of the Rivers (Die Mutter der Königin). I'm sorry for his end, by the way, his poor, poor wife. Jaquetta herself is different as well. On example: She preaches Elizabeth time and time again about cursing. But here, she helps her make the curse about George and the kingmaker.
The three sons of York themselves are interesting (and are totally different in this book than from, let's say, The Kingmaker's Daughter (Dornenschwestern), but it's obvious why. George is shallow, hungry for power (and his mother an absolute joy) and Richard is shy, small and trying hard. As for Edward (the king) himself: He's really something. I like how his relationship to his wife is shown: How it seems like she influences him, while he in fact makes most of his decisions alone – at least the political decisions. What he does about his girlfriends is another matter. Additionally, I like how they meet. That she stood at the road and waited until he rode by, how they fell in love on sight – and how she threatened him with his own weapon. He did deserve it, by the way. Their relationship is quite romantic, especially how Anthony describes him standing up for her. That letter is really, really, funny, by the way. I'm sorry for Elizabeth, when he dies. She looses everything: The love of her life, her position – which is important to her as well. She's hungry for power, and through that, she manages to loose everything that was left to her. I am so so sorry for her oldest daughter, Elizabeth of York. She's the centre of her mother's ambition. In the end, it ruins her life.
The story itself is tense, the characters are realistic – even though they do not fit to book 1 (and 4, but Anne Neville hates Elizabeth and loves Richard (of the House of York) so much, that it makes sense). The ideas, for example the ideas of witchcraft, are very well done, too.
In brief:
I give this book a star for style, one for content, and one for the ideas. The characters do make sense, but not in the context. This is why I can not give the star.
Prequel:
Sequel: