Mistress of late Medieval/Enlightenment Era storytelling Philippa Gregory refocuses her tales to an earlier period than her extremely popular series that focuses on the Tudors (including The Other Boleyn Girl with a new series highlighting the Wars of the Roses. This is the first volume in that series, and the star is Queen Elizabeth Woodville, who was often referred to as "the most beautiful woman in the island of Britain." She would be the queen consort of Edward IV, the first of the York kings that filled the throne between the Lancastrian and Tudor lines.

The novel starts just before Elizabeth is about to meet her future husband. Her husband has just died, and she and her family, who had been supporters of the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses, are appealing to Edward IV so her sons could claim their fathers lands, property, title, and wealth. It proved to be quite surprising to everyone that Elizabeth and Edward were to fall in love. Besides the fact that her families could be considered traitors, she was from a low-born noble family whose biggest claim to fame was being descended from a river goddess in the Frankish lands. But those concerns were not enough to keep the two of them apart.

They would marry and have ten children together, including two sons that would be valid inheritors of the crown. Their union would also help bring Edward through the final stages of the civil war that lasted years in the form of the Wars of the Roses. Happiness seemed to spread across the country when the Lancastrians were finally defeated and relinquished their claim to the kingship.

Unfortunately, Edward would die only a short time later, and rather than being followed by his eldest son, his brother Richard staked a claim on the throne. History would record that Richard III would lock his two sons in the Tower of London, and no one knows what actually happened to the two of them. Gregory presents an intriguing theory as to what might have happened in the closing pages to her novel.

As usual, Gregory has done a great job of including an Author's Note to explain the facts of history as they were included or changed in the course of her novel.

There is no question that Gregory has a talent for novels set during this period. Fans across the world rush to read her newest novels, and they won't be disappointed with this new setting. I did find the beginning of the book to be a bit slower, but that was more because it seemed to have a bit more in common with a romance novel than the high level of political/court intrigue that is so common in her books. That quickly changes once Elizabeth and Edward are married and their focus turns toward the Lancastrian usurpers.

I am already looking forward to the second book, which is called The Red Queen.