This book was the first book I've read of Phillipa Gregory's, and it was a great introduction into the Tudors (which I knew embarrassingly little about before!) The story rotates around Elizabeth Woodville, a woman who marries Edward IV for love and this results in her becoming queen of England, which results in fights both through her husband's endless physical battles, but more importantly, the physical strength she has to keep up during her time as queen. At first, I wasn't completely hooked on this book - but I had no dislike towards it - I had a feeling it would improve and every page I got more hooked.
PLOT
The novel is classed as 'historical fiction', so the plot follows historical facts while including more imaginary of farfetched ideas which make it even more exciting. Despite this, I felt I learnt a lot about the Tudors and their lives captivated me. It is a great novel to get you into the Tudor and was a great introduction for me for the life of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV. When I hit page 100 I was completely gripped and every chapter enhanced me as to what would happen next. It was a real page-turner which made me like it even more through the fact I was both learning and understanding more about the Tudors whilst being gripped to this mysterious story which a lot was based on truth (which made it even more fascinating!) I think Phillipa Gregory managed to get a great balance of fact and fiction - with the fiction not at all ruining the historical fact or misleading the reader, instead just improving the novel even more, and adding a more magical perception of their lives, which I really enjoyed. I thought that she was successful through the fact nothing was taken away from the good, core facts and ideas, while still being able to add more to the book in only a positive way.
WRITING STYLE
The book is incredibly easy to read with using straight forward language whilst remaining sophisticated through the inclusion of some important vocabulary that I got to grips with very quickly. Gregory carried suspense through her writing style and the way she wrote made it even more page-turning. Anyone over the age of twelve would have no struggle with the language and writing style, with the inclusion of some new words.
WHAT I TOOK AWAY FROM IT
Overall, I thought the entire novel was both incredibly interesting and gripping. I learnt about the struggle of Tudor times to a fascinating extent, and the life of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV which before reading this I had limited knowledge of them both. It is a great read to introduce anyone to the Tudor times by still being just a great fiction story to read anywhere and any time, as it's guaranteed to grip you!
STAR RATING: * * * * / 5