The White Queen by Philippa Gregory.✔✔✔

Like countless other people whose childhoods spanned the 1950s, I was a keen reader of The Book of Knowledge. In one of those volumes was a portrait of the two young princes who were imprisoned in the Tower of London back in the late 15th century, and I was endlessly fascinated with the portrait, which showed them holding one another, looking down a passageway as if to search their way out.

When I learned that The White Queen was the story of their mother, Elizabeth Woodville, I placed the title on my "Must Read" list, where it has been for over two years, but I finally - but not without some mysterious disappearances of the book among the library's shelves - got to read it.

According to this novel, one of those princes was Edward, heir to the throne, but the other was a young boy who joined Elizabeth's household as a changeling for Richard, second in line to the throne, who was spirited away to France. Gregory does warn the reader that there is no hard evidence for this.

Elizabeth herself is a very interesting character, apparently the most beautiful queen of England, who also possessed some gifts of foreseeing and witchcraft, gifts which were handed down by her mother.

I enjoy reading Gregory's historical fiction. There's a lot of information and intrigue, but she keeps her story going well and doesn't let you get bogged down with details. I was a bit confused about the timeline in the book, which ended with the book's beginning period, but I realize now that this series, entitled The Cousins' War, is about the Plantagenets, who preceded the Tudors.

Now I've got her next, The Red Queen, on my list - it's about Mary, Queen of Scots.