Reading recommendations: The White Queen, Philippa Gregory

The Cousins' War

Book One

Philippa Gregory, "the queen of royal fiction," presents the first of a new series set amid the deadly feuds of England known as the War of Roses.

Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Planatagenets. They are the claimants and Kings who ruled England before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women starting with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.

The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of a newly crowned boy King, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: The missing Princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Gregory explores this most famous unsolved mystery of English history informed`　 by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable story telling skills.

She is a former student of Sussex University, and a Ph.D. and Alumni of the year 2009 of Edinburgh University, her love for history and commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing.

And, After You, a novel, Julie Buxbaum

It happened on a tree lined street in Notting Hill to a woman who seemed to have the perfect life. Ellie Lerner's best friend, Lucy, was murdered in front of her young daughter. And, as best friends do, Ellie dropped everything, her marriage, her job, her life in the Boston suburbs to travel to London and pick up the pieces of Lucy's life. While Lucy's husband, Greg, copes with his grief by retreating into himself, eight year old Sophie has simply stopped speaking.

Desperate to help Sophie, Ellie turns to a book that gave her comfort as a child, The Secret Garden. As the two spend hours exploring the novel's winding passageways, its story of hurt, magic and healing blooms around them. But so, too, do Lucy's secrets, some big, some small, secrets Lucy kept hidden even from her best friend. Over a summer in London, as Ellie peels back the layers of her friends life, she's for forced to confront her own as well; the marriage she left behind, the loss she hoped to escape. And suddenly Ellie's carefully constructed existence is spinning out of control in a chain of events that will transform her life, and the lives around her forever. A real page turner!

And, Saved, Rescued Animals and the Lives They Transform, Karin Winegar, Photographs by Judy Olausen, Forward by Jane Goodall

This book is about people trying to heal the damage done to animals and how animals heal suffering human beings. Some people do it one animal at a time, making room in their urban backyards, basements and bedrooms. Others have carved out refuges for creatures in shopping malls, nursing homes, and even jails. Still others help by trying to pass legislation that would hold breeders accountable, require spaying, ban dog fighting and prevent horses being shipped to slaughter.

These stories are about animals who sit on their laps, lick their hands, who return from abuse and starvation to some degree of health and trust, who repays immeasurably the favors done to them. Because what rescued animals do best and most astonishingly is forgive.

They may or may not forgive what was done to them - how could they - but they invariably forgive. Some where between memory and expectation (as an author and horsewoman, Jane Smiley characterizes animal and human relationships), they manage to revive trust in and love for humans, even though certain people have hurt them grievously.

See you at Rylander!