Our high school faculty's third read in three months! Cool!
Author Philippa Gregory, also well-known for her The Other Bolyn Girl, created The Cousin's War Series...after investigating this site, I realize now our group may have read book two!
As I read, I struggled. Not because the novel is poorly written, for it is not, but because Gregory intensively researches...and my background in this time era lacks...greatly! Thus, though, I learned so much.
Told through the voice of Elizabeth Woodville of the house of Lancaster, the reader listens as she approaches King Edward, becomes his queen, births his children, and experiences the many ups and downs as the brothers and others fight for the crown, many of whom had the same name! So confusing, at first!
For me, history has been too summarized, meaning that years of history has too often been condensed to one page in a history book. Novels such as these enliven that history, reminding me of the humanness of the times, that these figures in history ate, slept, felt...just as I do.
I especially enjoyed Gregory's use of the gift of second sight and the power of the Melusina, the river goddess, that displays in Elizabeth's mother, then herself, and later in the novel through her own daughter Elizabeth. I really was not expecting this.
I look forward to reading the rest of this series. What are you thoughts on historical fiction?
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