The book

The first in a stunning new series, The Cousins War, is set amid the tumult and intrigue of The War of the Roses. Internationally bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings this family drama to colourful life through its women, beginning with the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.

The White Queen tells the story of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores the most famous unsolved mystery, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.

The prize

This stunning collectors’ edition of only 750 copies is carefully hand-bound in goat skin leather, signed by the author, hand-numbered and printed on beautifully crafted paper that has deckle-edges and watermarks. It’s worth a cool £150. Four runners up will receive hardback copies of The White Queen. Read more about the prize

The challenge

For such a fabulous first prize, we could ask you to form a historical re-enactment society and re-fight the Wars of the Roses, and we think you’d do it – so by comparison, this challenge is a doddle:

• Answer two questions. You can find the answers by watching the video interview with Philippa Gregory and looking at the family tree that Simon & Schuster have thoughtfully provided
• Philippa recently undertook an exciting project to abridge the whole of The White Queen, in Twitter form. For those of you who don’t know (where have you been?), a Twitter post, or Tweet, is limited to 140 characters so it’s quite tough (we’re allowing you 160). As a tie-breaker, we want you to produce your own Twitterized version of a short extract from The White Queen. Get inspired by reading all of Elizabeth Woodville’s Tweets.

The video

The family tree

The Wars of the Roses were otherwise known as the Cousins War – so family was at the heart of it. This family tree shows the key players and you’ll need it to answer one of the questions.

The White Queen family tree

The questions

1. Which Dukedom was held by John Beaufort?
2. Which family member was imprisoned in the Tower of London by his rivals?

The tie-breaker

Provide us with your own Twitter-length (160 characters maximum) summary of this passage from The White Queen:

Those of us left in England did not surrender readily. The battles went on and on to resist the false king, this boy of York. My own husband was killed commanding our cavalry, only three years ago at St. Albans. And now I am left a widow and what land and fortune I once called my own has been taken by my motherin-law with the goodwill of the victor, the master of this boy-king, the great puppeteer who is known as the Kingmaker: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who made a king out of this vain boy, now only twenty-two, and will make a hell out of England for those of us who still defend the House of Lancaster.

There are Yorkists in every great house in the land now, and every profitable business or place or tax is in their gift. Their boyking is on the throne, and his supporters form the new court. We, the defeated, are paupers in our own houses and strangers in our own country, our king an exile, our queen a vengeful alien plotting with our old enemy of France. We have to make terms with the tyrant ofYork, while praying that God turns against him and our true king sweeps south with an army for yet another battle.

You should be trying to capture the essence of the passage, the sentiment, the sense it conveys, with your Tweet – not every single factual detail.

Enter now

Competition rules

1. Closing date for entries: 21st September 2009.
2. Open to residents of the United Kingdom only.
3. Entry to the competition is by completion of the above form only – we are not asking you to post your entries on Twitter. Anyone submitting multiple entries will be disqualified.
4. The winners will be chosen by the judges from those correct entries received before the closing date.
5. Only the winning entrants will be contacted by Bookhugger. Our decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
6. The winner’s name(s) and entries may be published on the Bookhugger website after the closing date of the competition.
7. The competition is not open to Bookhugger employees and their families, or to employees of Bookhugger publishers and their families.

1. Erin’s Review: The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory | Bookgeeks Says:
   September 1st, 2009 at 11:11 am

   [...] readers – be sure to check out the great new Philippa Gregory competition on our sister site [...]

2. Loni Says:
   September 1st, 2009 at 8:27 pm

   Actually, Tweets are limited to 140 characters, not 160.

3. The Bookhugger Crew Says:
   September 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 am

   You’re right, of course, Loni – Twitter opted for 140 characters, we have opted for 160 (which is the same length as an SMS message) to make it slightly easier for people.

4. beth Says:
   September 26th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

   When will the winners be informed?
   Will the winners and runner ups be posted on the site?
   x

5. The Bookhugger Crew Says:
   September 26th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

   The entries have been sent to Simon & Schuster for judging and we will inform the winners as soon as we can, hopefully within the next week. We will be posting the winning entry here too.

6. beth Says:
   September 29th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

   Great, thank you for letting us know!
   

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