Philippa Gregory

I’m reading this wonderful series, The Cousins’ War, out of order, but it’s all good. :-) I’ve read THE LADY OF THE RIVERS, which was Book Three, and now, THE WHITE PRINCESS, Book Five. Philippa Gregory has a knack for blending fact with fiction and bringing historical characters to life, making them real and compelling. Fascinating, all of them, even the ones I wanted to throttle.

A quickie historical note: The White Princess in this book is Elizabeth of York, eldest child of King show more Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth of York was the sister of the Princes in the Tower, the heirs to King Edward IV’s throne after his death. Edward’s brother Richard III had the boys taken to the Tower of London, where they disappeared before the eldest boy could be crowned. Richard III had them declared illegitimate anyway, and took the throne in 1483, the last York king.

THE WHITE PRINCESS begins just after Richard III’s defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. In theory, the War of the Roses came to an end when Henry Tudor took the crown and married Elizabeth, finally uniting the Houses of Lancaster and York. But, of course, it wasn’t that easy!

Poor Elizabeth. She was madly in love with her Uncle Richard, and was devastated by his death. (o.O) Richard III was going to make his beloved niece his queen, but she was forced to marry his archenemy/murderer instead. Elizabeth was a sympathetic character, just trying to make the best out of a situation beyond her control. In the eyes of her husband, she walked a fine line between being a traitorous York and being his repentant queen throughout their entire marriage. Most of the time she was kept in the dark about the scheming of her husband and his mother to secure his crown, and that of her own mother, Elizabeth Woodville, who longed to see a York restored to the throne.

Elizabeth was a strong woman to have survived her life with Henry. I’m sorry to say that Henry was little more than a paranoid mama’s boy, always believing a ghost prince would swoop in a steal his crown. He was so insecure and unlikable, I kind of felt sorry for the man. (Still, I wanted to smack him a few times.) And then there was his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, an unpleasant, pious, and power-hungry woman. As his chief adviser and one of the few people the king trusted, she fueled his paranoia and put quite a strain on his relationship with Elizabeth.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and it was amazing. Bianca Amato gave a brilliant performance and truly captured the personalities and emotions of the characters. There was a memorable scene between Elizabeth and her son, Prince Arthur, in church where he tells her that she’ll always have him. Bittersweet. *sniffles*

Now, I have to go back and read some of the earlier books in this series, particularly THE WHITE QUEEN, about Elizabeth Woodville. I need to know more about this fascinating woman.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio for sending me a review copy of this book. show less

For the faint of heart who complained about Wideacre, the first novel in Philippa Gregory's trilogy, there will be no need to warn that The Favoured Child continues in the same ever-decreasing circles. Julia Lacey and Richard McAndrew are Beatrice's children, joint heirs to the land who have also inherited the best and worst traits of their mother. (I must confess that I had forgotten exactly how warped the parentage in Wideacre was, and the Wiki synopsis of the book shocked me again!) But show more to fellow fans of this series, who love the twisted characters and the high drama of the novels, then this sequel is a worthy successor to the Wideacre controversy. Not exactly high literature, but very entertaining and easy to read! To misquote Victor Kiam, I love it so much I bought the set!

Julia and Richard are Beatrice's children, but also the polar opposites of her personality embodied in two individual characters, which is perhaps why neither work as well as Beatrice Lacey in Wideacre. Beatrice held the entire story with the strength of her own character, but Julia as narrator is a passive witness to her own life, and Richard quickly turns into a pantomime villain, all cackling laughter and evil deeds. For the most part, I did find Julia to be sympathetic and historically accurate, full of good intentions but without the confidence to act on her own, yet she can also be extremely infuriating. She represents the powerless state of eighteenth century women, controlled by society's expectations and owned by their husbands, and the point is regularly drummed home. But she is also the favoured child, sharing Beatrice's link with the land and her second sight - so much is made of this vital, mystical connection in the first half of the novel, only for Julia to throw it all away in the second. Maddening! Richard, in comparison, has all of Beatrice's greed and ambition and jealousy but without any of her depth or motivation - he's just a mad bully, with the dangerous capacity to charm and terrorise with equal impact.

The Favoured Child is a sensational, supernatural epic, which must be read as a sequel to Wideacre, but also a well-crafted historical novel, with an imposing message about the balance of power in late eighteenth century England. The Quality and the parish poor, landlords and labourers, men and women - while the French are fighting a revolution across the Channel, the struggle for independence is seething away beneath the pastoral beauty of the countryside, and amongst the Laceys of Wideacre, a corrupt family slowly turning in on themselves. I appreciated the historical social commentary, from the revival of Wideacre to the Austen-esque chapters in Bath, and enjoyed reading about another self-destructive generation of Beatrice's family. The ending is slightly rushed, with shocking deaths tacked on merely to accelerate the plot, but well worth waiting for - and I am glad I have Meridon, the last novel in the trilogy, already to hand! show less

My most anticipated read of the year!! And it was SO GOOD.

Alinor Reekie used to be a midwife and herbalist, like her mother and grandmother before her. Years ago, she fell in love with a man she shouldn't have, and her life fell apart. Now, she is an entirely different woman, sickly and frail, living with her daughter Alys Stoney by the dirty waters of the river. It has been twenty years since Alinor and her children, Alys and Rob, left their beloved home in the tidelands. At the beginning show more of this story, a beautiful and mysterious Italian woman named Livia arrives at their door with baby in tow, dressed in black mourning clothes, claiming she is Rob Reekie's widow. Alys welcomes her in, but Alinor isn't convinced her son is dead. Also! Out of the blue, James Avery shows up to outrage and no-fanfare-whatsoever, after twenty long years of no word at all. He desperate to make amends with Alinor after allowing unspeakable horrors to happen to her long ago. But none of these women nor their circumstances will make it easy for him to reacquaint with Alinor.

Before anything else, I want to say that I LOVE the way Philippa Gregory writes women. The women in this series are such badasses. At first glance, they don't seem to have much and they seem like their lives matter very little. But these women have a strength that is larger than life and they can handle far more than anyone in their world wants to give them credit for.

This story is not at all like Tidelands in terms of atmosphere and tone. The main POV's have shifted around a little bit and the world is much larger. The first story took place in a very small community in England, but this story has spread to London, Venice, and New England. It was super compelling and all I wanted to do was read it. (I thought about it nonstop when I couldn't be reading.) The chapters are short, which made it easy for me to sneak a few pages here and there throughout the day: while I was in the line at the grocery store, while dinner cooked, in between subjects while homeschooling my kids.

Here's the thing: I had a hunch that something was up with Livia from the beginning. She was coy and her story often didn't line up with reality. (I loved to hate her!) I kept hoping everyone would wise up to [what I assumed were] her schemes, and then when things really picked up, I couldn't wait to see how everything would unfold for these characters.

GAH, it's going to be a long wait for the next part of the story!! The ending thankfully isn't a cliffhanger, but there is definitely more story to be told. I'm really happy for some of these characters and I really feel like some of them got what was coming to them.

Sidenote: I can't wait to reread Dark Tides via audiobook. Right before I started this one, I reread Tidelands via audiobook and it was fantastic. Louise Brealey narrated and did such a fantastic job. Her accent is beautiful and I cannot wait to hear her bring Dark Tides to life.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you, Atria Books! show less

Beatrice is the daughter of the Squire of Wideacre. Though she knows the land and loves farming, she is destined to be married off and sent away from the only home she has ever known. But she is determined to own the land herself, and at the age of fifteen throws all her will behind this conviction. She will dare anything and pay any price to have the land she loves.

This is easily the best novel in the series. It's pretty outlandish, and downright unlikely in parts, but the character of show more Beatrice is vibrant. The reader cannot help but root for her. She is surrounded by mediocrity and chained in by the social system. Even as she is going mad and plotting unforgivable cruelty, I couldn't help but admire the way she defied all the patriarchal laws of the time. show less