Philippa Gregory The White Queen 2009 Simon Schuster 2009

Synopsis

England, 1464, and the country is in turmoil. The Plantaganets of York and the House of Lancaster both lay claim to the throne and are battling it out in a raging civil war. But one Lancastrian woman is plotting to infiltrate the House of York all on her own - little knowing the cost to herself. Elizabeth Woodville - a woman as ambitious as she is famously beautiful - has a plan to raise up her own poorer Lancastrian relations by seducing the Plantaganet king, Edward IV, with witchcraft. But the White Queen's reign is short lived. Just a few years later, the invasion of the mentally unstable former king, Henry VI, forces her into hiding with her young daughters, while Edward flees to France with his brother Richard. But Elizabeth's luck changes once more when Edward returns in triumph to liberate his family and reclaim the crown. Then, at Edward's untimely death in 1483, Elizabeth snatches at the opportunity to further the fortunes of her scheming family. She intends to make them regents over her son, Edward V - who has been crowned King of England at the age of just twelve. But the boy's uncle, Richard, locks his brother's sons up in the Tower of London ...