RaveThe TelegraphPhilippa Gregory takes us back to the Wars of the Roses in this entrancing novel. In Elizabeth she has alighted on an intriguing subject. She won the lecherous Edward through beauty and sex appeal. Theirs was a love story. But Elizabeth also believed herself to be a seer with magical powers who could curse her enemies … Gregory is very good at describing the bitchiness of the women in this tale of dynastic rivalry. Even Elizabeth turns shrew. Nothing, however, exceeds the exquisite spitefulness of the letter Margaret writes when Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth of York, jeopardises her proposed marriage to Henry Tudor by her incestuous passion for her Uncle Richard.
