[5] Young widow Lady Elizabeth Grey puts herself in the path of King Edward IV to seek his assistance in reclaiming her late husband's estate for her sons, but it is love at first sight for both of them.

Their younger brother Richard marries the widowed Anne Neville, and disapproves of Edward's choice to broker peace with France, rather than fight for English holdings there.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth plots with her brother-in-law and former ward, the Duke of Buckingham, and Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the exiled Lancastrian claimant Henry Tudor, to overthrow Richard and free the young princes in the Tower.

Publishers Weekly wrote of the novel, "Gregory earned her international reputation evoking sex, violence, love and betrayal among the Tudors; here she adds intimate relationships, political maneuvering and battlefield conflicts as well as some well-drawn supernatural elements."

The review adds that the author "is especially poignant depicting Elizabeth in her later years" and that "she captures vividly the terrible inertia of war," but notes that the novel "may not be as fresh as earlier efforts.

"[1] Maureen Waller of The Telegraph called the novel "entrancing" and its heroine "intriguing," adding that "Gregory is very good at describing the bitchiness of the women in this tale of dynastic rivalry.

"[2] The White Queen has been released in audiobook form in both abridged (performed by Bianca Amato) and unabridged (narrated by Susan Lyons) versions.

The magazine praised both recordings, calling Amato's performance "powerful and compellingly believable" and Lyon's voice "regal" and "self-possessed.