The television series of the amazing and meticulously researched book, ‘The White Queen’ by Philippa Gregory had a disappointing opening episode, looking and sounding more like a paragraph from Mills and Boon, rather than an outstanding historical novel from one of our most eminent historians and international No 1 best-selling author. Recent episodes have shown an improvement but the dialogue has been somewhat stilted, and infuriating in that the books have the most informative and true to character conversations in them. Why not use what has been expertly written? We can only hope that viewers will seek out the masterpieces penned by Philippa Gregory. My life has been enhanced by the absorbing novels which follow the events of the Wars of the Roses. I love Shakespeare, but I prefer Dr Gregory’s version of the truth. History comes alive and is intriguing, with her pen describing the commoner, Elizabeth Woodville, seducing and marrying the Yorkist King Henry IV. (White Queen because the House of Lancaster adopted the white rose as its emblem).
Continue reading Gregory’s Girls →