Book review - Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose by Alison Weir

 * A huge thank you to Anne Cater and Headline for sending me a proof copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

The spellbinding story of Elizabeth of York, the first Tudor queen. 

An English Princess, born into a war between two families. Eldest daughter of the royal House of York, Elizabeth dreams of a crown to call her own. But when her beloved father, King Edward, dies suddenly, her destiny is rewritten. Her family's enemies close in. Two young princes are murdered in the Tower. Then her uncle seizes power - and vows to make Elizabeth his queen. But another claimant seeks the throne, the upstart son of the rival royal House of Lancaster. Marriage to this Henry Tudor would unite the white rose of York and the red of Lancaster - and change everything. A great new age awaits. Now Elizabeth must choose her allies - and husband - wisely, and fight for her right to rule. 

My review:

Having previously published a biography about Elizabeth of York in 2013, Alison Weir has now written a novel about her life. Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose, is the first book in the new Tudor Rose Trilogy, that will span three generations of England’s most celebrated royal dynasty. Tudor fans will already know this story off by heart, however, I absolutely loved this book! Alison Weir has real gift when it comes to telling the stories of royal Tudor women, having previously written her Six Tudor Queens series.

We first meet Elizabeth when she is a child, and the book continues throughout the remainder of her life. It’s almost like a biography in novel form. Elizabeth was surrounded by drama from a young age, during her father’s reign and after his death, when her uncle Richard III claimed the throne. And of course, the mysterious disappearance of her brothers, the princes in the Tower. When Henry Tudor won the battle of Bosworth and became king, he married Elizabeth and in doing so, the two warring families were united. However, once they were married, they were plagued with pretenders who wanted to seek the crown for themselves and they also lost several children, the most well-known being Arthur Tudor. All this must have taken a toll on their marriage, Weir writes of a loving union and while Elizabeth doesn’t always agree with everything her husband does, she understands he must do it.

The novel also gives us an insight into how life might have been as a royal Tudor woman. The heavy expectation to give their husband a son and the almost constant pregnancies they had to endure must have affected them mentally and physically. I enjoyed the parts where Elizabeth interacted with her sisters and mother, during all the hardships and losses they had to go through, they managed to find strength in each other. Something else I enjoyed was how Alison Weir wrote a kind Margaret Beaufort - hooray! It was also interesting imagining a young gutsy Henry VIII, who as we know, later went on to become king.

Incredibly well researched, this book had me hooked, even though I knew the outcome! At the back of the book is a great Author’s Note, a list characters, a timeline of events and reading group questions. I highly recommend Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose. 

Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose, is out now! here

A note from Alison Weir: 

Elizabeth of York’s life has always fascinated me because it spans my two favourite periods of English history: the Yorkist age and the early Tudor era, a time that saw the end of the medieval period and the dawn of modern England. Her marriage to Henry VII united the warring royal houses of York and Lancaster and founded the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth was beautiful and cultivated – and she should have been the rightful Queen of England after the probable deaths of her brothers, the Princes in the Tower, in 1483. She had a better claim to the throne than Henry VII, but because she was a woman, no one championed her right. She was regarded chiefly as the heiress of the royal House of York, through whom the right of succession could be transmitted by marriage. She passed on that right to her son, Henry VIII. Having published a biography of Elizabeth in 2013, I have long wanted to write a novel about her, because there are tantalising gaps in her story. Despite the wealth of source material, history does not always record her thoughts, emotions, motives, hopes and fears. She was passionate and proactive in intriguing behind the scenes to become queen. Once she was crowned, however, her voice was silent, so we can only speculate on how events affected her. And that leaves plenty of scope for a novelist… Among the many mysteries that surround Elizabeth is the fate of the Princes in the Tower. We can only imagine the distress that her brothers’ disappearance and rumours of their murder caused her. Later, the emergence of a pretender claiming to be the younger Prince must have impacted profoundly on her. In this novel, I offer what I believe to be the most credible explanation of what happened to the Princes. Having written six novels about her daughters-in-law, the wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth of York was the obvious choice for my next foray into fiction, this book being the first in the Tudor Rose trilogy that will span three generations of England’s most celebrated royal dynasty.

Author bio:

Alison Weir is the bestselling female historian in the United Kingdom, and has sold over 3 million books worldwide. She has published twenty history books. Alison is also the author of twelve historical novels, including the highly acclaimed Six Tudor Queens series all of which were Sunday Times bestsellers. The complete short-story collection, In the Shadow of Queens, accompanies this series. Alison is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an honorary life patron of Historic Royal Palaces.

www.alisonweir.org.uk

@alisonweirbooks