A review by kastrel
The Cousins' War Collection: White Queen, Red Queen, Lady of the Rivers, Kingmaker's Daughter, The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

4.0

I actually enjoyed this book a lot - many of the reviews were pretty damning, but this is a period of history that is completely new to me (Henry VI's reign, 1450s and 60s). I know a little of the earlier period from Shakespeare, and quite a lot of the later period from school and other historical fiction, films and TV set around Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I read Katherine which is about John of Gaunt and his wife, and Seventh Son, which is about Richard III. But this was a complete blank to me. Philippa Gregory always does a good job of writing the stories of interesting women, set against a backdrop of historical events, with lots of attention to everyday detail. I didn't find the plot thin on the ground - there was a lot going on! And I loved the central love story between Jacquetta and Richard Woodville, and her many, many children. It gave the book a central family for me to root for, stopped it getting too bleak to be worth caring about.