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The White PrincessDeckle Edge The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels Philippa Gregory Books

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The White PrincessDeckle Edge The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels Philippa Gregory Books

First and foremost, readers should remember that this is historical fiction not history, per se. This is the story of Henry Tudor, who got his crown and became King Henry VII of England by defeating King Richard lIl of the house of York at the battle of Bosworth. He soon marries Princess Elizabeth of the house of York, daughter of King Edward IV and his wife, Queen Elizabeth. He does so to give his kingship stability and unite England. Unfortunately, the best laid plans often go awry.

Not much is known about the women of that era, other than the basics: birth, marriage, children, and death. So, here the author tries to make the women three dimensional. The author also weaves a narrative on the women's take of the events of the day. It is certainly an intriguing tapestry that the author weaves. While at times the book is a bit repetitive, it is still an entertaining work of historical fiction. Fans of the author will not be disappointed.


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The White PrincessDeckle Edge The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels Philippa Gregory Books Reviews

After watching the Starz production of The White Princess , I was eager to read the Philippa Gregory novel. As a fan of Elizabeth of York, I devour most everything I can find about her and the first Tudor king, the underrated Henry VII. Disappointment is the only way I can describe my reaction to this novel. It starts out well, although leaning heavy on the theory Elizabeth was Richard III’s lover (not proven). Henry is a complex but admirable character until about three-quarters into the book where he turns into this hateful, extremely paranoid, dare I say just idiot. To say this book doesn’t do Henry justice is a massive understatement. When I finished it, it truly left a bad taste in my mouth. Nobody likes to witness a character assassination.
Philippa Gregory can write. Obviously, as she has so many books to her name. Even when I disagree with content, I still want to keep reading her stories.

I watched the Starz version of "The White Princess" and wanted to read the source material. To my dismay I discovered that my issues with the TV show are the same issues I have with the book.

I don't consider myself a Tudor expert by any means, but I am fascinated with the War of the Roses. I especially love the story of Henry and Elizabeth since they seemed to truly fall in love with one another and ended the war between their houses.

Everything I've read about Henry VII is not presented in this book. That he was fiscally responsible, organized his kingdom well and was a king to be admired is not how Gregory imagines him, apparently. In her book he is a cold, mean, vindictive man who uses his love as a weapon. He's paranoid to the point of almost mental illness and is just generally an unlikable character/man. That goes against all that I've read about his love for his wife and his children. There is also no historical indication that he had an affair with Kathy Gordon/Lady Katherine Huntly. Especially since Elizabeth took her into her household and cared for her the rest of her life. And that when Henry had the chance to marry Kathy after Elizabeth's death, he did not take it. That doesn't sound like a man in love or a man with a mistress. Henry is one of the few English kings to not have an official mistress. Given his mother's piety and upbringing, I believe that he was a man of morals and would not cheat on the queen he adored.

While Elizabeth is presented as a strong character in the beginning, toward the end of the book that radically changes. Literally the entire last half of the book is her saying, "I don't know. I don't know." It's so bad that Henry even mocks her for it on several different occasions. Instead of driving her story (as Gregory tells us is most important, that we see all the ways Elizabeth ruled and had influence even if history didn't record it), she is instead out of the loop in every event in her life. So that when questioned, she literally can't say anything but "I don't know." Which is a pity, to see her character reduced to such nothingness in her own story, especially since Gregory wanted the opposite to happen.

One of my main issues with the show and this book is that by presenting Henry and Elizabeth as enemies forced to wed (another point that most historians disagree with--they had a good deal of time to get to know one another and it seemed that, especially on her side, there were real feelings there before they married and he certainly didn't rape the girl and try to impregnate her first), part of what drives this story should be Elizabeth's surrender. That you see her husband falling in love with her, and I wanted that moment where she tells him she feels the same. It's sort of in this book (sort of in the show, too), but it falls completely flat. She says it at the end of a scene. So we don't see Henry's reaction. Winning Elizabeth's love is important to him (how can he make the country love him if he can't even get his own wife to?). I wanted to see what happened with that moment. How it changed things for them. What it meant for them as a couple. We don't get that here, at all.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Perkin Warbeck thread or who killed the princes in the tower. I don't have enough information on either subject to form a sure opinion, but I'm not sure Gregory persuades me to her point of view in the book. (Like I believe that Richard III killed those boys and the reason he didn't display their bodies was that he didn't want anyone to know that he'd murdered children to be king.)

Anyway, this book has very little romance and affection. The characters often have these long monologues that are not how real people speak, but more like a historian is trying to explain a fact by putting it into her characters' mouths and letting them spell out all the different intricacies of what's happening in a particular scene. I wanted more Henry and Elizabeth, their day to day lives and their love story, and what I got was a bunch of explanations about battles and fear and obsession with pretenders to the throne.

Not one I'd ever read again.
I used to love Gregory's books. The characters were richly drawn and dialogs revealed their inner worlds. I noticed that has not been the case with the last several books. I am thinking the author may be getting lazy and is cranking out these books without putting as much thought into them as she did with her first ones. Did these books become just a money-making machine for her? I don't want to accuse her of anything but really, for the price she is charging, the quality is just not there anymore.

The main character Elizabeth is so incredibly boring. I laughed when I saw somebody else say in the review how Elizabeth got on their nerves because the only thing she ever said was "I don't know." And that even Henry's character got irritated with that. I laughed because it was exactly what I thought at some point. And when Henry commented on it, I thought "Man, I am with you, she is so annoying!"

The dialog, in general, was kept to a minimum so the book read more like a historical chronical vs. a novel.

I really don't like the latest trend of narrating from the first person because it limits our access to other characters' inner worlds. All we can rely on is the person's perception of others' emotions and thoughts. The problem with Elizabeth's character is that she never knew what was happening around her (hence the consistent answer "I don't know" to most of the questions she was ever asked). So the whole story is being told from the perspective of someone who has an extremely limited view of events. You judge it for yourself how interesting that could possibly be!
First and foremost, readers should remember that this is historical fiction not history, per se. This is the story of Henry Tudor, who got his crown and became King Henry VII of England by defeating King Richard lIl of the house of York at the battle of Bosworth. He soon marries Princess Elizabeth of the house of York, daughter of King Edward IV and his wife, Queen Elizabeth. He does so to give his kingship stability and unite England. Unfortunately, the best laid plans often go awry.

Not much is known about the women of that era, other than the basics birth, marriage, children, and death. So, here the author tries to make the women three dimensional. The author also weaves a narrative on the women's take of the events of the day. It is certainly an intriguing tapestry that the author weaves. While at times the book is a bit repetitive, it is still an entertaining work of historical fiction. Fans of the author will not be disappointed.