LITERATURE + LECTURES

Blue Willow Bookshop presents  Philippa Gregory.   We are thrilled to welcome author Philippa Gregory! She will be in town to discuss and sign her newest book, The White Queen, which introduces her fans to The Cousins War Series during the Plantagenet period.

Philippa Gregory, well known for her novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, will appear at 7:00pm at the University of Houston-Sugar Land (US 59 & University) at Brazos Hall. Refreshments, generously supplied by Safari Texas, will be served. This event will benefit literacy efforts in Fort Bend County, the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County and the scholarship efforts of Fort Bend Friends and Neighbors Bookworms, a special interest group of Fort Bend Friends and Neighbors.

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.

Philippa Gregory was an established historian and writer when she discovered her interest in the Tudor period and wrote the novel The Other Boleyn Girl which was made into a tv drama, and a major film. Now, six novels later, she is looking at the family that preceded the Tudors: the magnificent Plantaganets, a family of complex rivalries, loves, and hatreds.

She lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire where she keeps horses, hens and ducks. Visitors to this site, Philippa Gregory.com become addicted to the updates of historical research and the progress of ducklings.

Her other great interest is the charity that she founded nearly twenty years ago: Gardens for The Gambia. She has raised funds and paid for 140 wells in the primary schools of this very dry and poor African country, and thousands of school children have been able to learn market gardening in the school gardens watered by the wells. The charity also provides wells for womens’ collective gardens and for The Gambia’s only agricultural college at Njawara.

A past student of Sussex university, and a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 of Edinburgh university, her love for history and commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing. She also reviews for the Washington Post, the LA Times, and for UK newspapers, and is a regular broadcaster on television, radio, and webcasts from this website, Philippa Gregory.com.

This will be Philippa Gregory’s only appearance in the Houston area. Call for your tickets now!

Blue Willow Bookshop is proud to be the Houston stop for many wonderful authors. We work hard to make each event enlightening and entertaining. If you would like to go through the signing line and meet Philippa Gregory, you must purchase The White Queen from Blue Willow Bookshop.

Join us Wednesday, September 23, at 7:00 p.m. For directions to the University of Houston - Sugar Land campus, click here.

Photo by James Stewart.