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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content, Religious bigotry
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Grief
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked 'The Other Boleyn Girl', but I LOVED 'The Boleyn Inheritance'! I read this every chance I got and finished it in about a week, which is no small task since I also have a 15-month-old running around.
I think what really made this book so enjoyable for me was Anne of Cleves. She had all the grace and class that Jane and Katharine were lacking. Ms. Gregory did an outstanding job with the very different voices of each woman.
Painting Jane as an almost sympathetic character, yet also very mentally ill. Katharine as the silly, young, clueless girl thrust into the heavy shoes of a Queen. And Anne, far wiser than her 24 years, who was the only woman to survive a marriage to Henry VIII.
Just as with her previous Boleyn novel, much of this was fabricated. She says herself in the end how little is actually known of Henry's fourth and fifth wives, but the gist of the story is true. What these three women endured in the horribly frightening latter days of Henry's reign was all too real, and this story as she tells it was an absolute pleasure to read. I will definitely be picking up some of her older novels as I just love her ability to absolutely capture your complete attention with her stories.
I think what really made this book so enjoyable for me was Anne of Cleves. She had all the grace and class that Jane and Katharine were lacking. Ms. Gregory did an outstanding job with the very different voices of each woman.
Painting Jane as an almost sympathetic character, yet also very mentally ill. Katharine as the silly, young, clueless girl thrust into the heavy shoes of a Queen. And Anne, far wiser than her 24 years, who was the only woman to survive a marriage to Henry VIII.
Just as with her previous Boleyn novel, much of this was fabricated. She says herself in the end how little is actually known of Henry's fourth and fifth wives, but the gist of the story is true. What these three women endured in the horribly frightening latter days of Henry's reign was all too real, and this story as she tells it was an absolute pleasure to read. I will definitely be picking up some of her older novels as I just love her ability to absolutely capture your complete attention with her stories.
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took me a while, it was written differently then Philippa's books are usually written because it jumps between 3 different people instead of the one that her book usually contain. With that being said it does have the same format of 'diary styled' book which jumps between the three stories and shows how they were intertwined.
It was interesting to see the two wives coming together and the people around them facilitating things, such as affairs and babies out of wedlock which would not normally be facilitated if the third parties were not involved. I was interesting to see the link between the previous wives and this current book as well, it was surprising how intertwined the situation during Henry 8th court was.
It was interesting to see the two wives coming together and the people around them facilitating things, such as affairs and babies out of wedlock which would not normally be facilitated if the third parties were not involved. I was interesting to see the link between the previous wives and this current book as well, it was surprising how intertwined the situation during Henry 8th court was.
I am becoming addicted to Philippa Gregory's novels. Impeccably researched and masterfully narrated stories of the women in the murderous court of Henry VIII, they hook the reader like a thriller. We know what happens to them, these women who are mostly used to further the ambition of the men in their families. They are killed, or discarded when no longer useful. Some lucky few escape, like Anne of Cleves and Mary Boleyn. Others, like little Katherine Howard, never stood a chance.
But it's Gregory's imagining of these women's inner voices that pulls us in. In this, the third of the Tudor Court series, the least-known of Henry's wives are given the ability to tell their own tale. Anne of Cleves is desperate to escape the cruelty and neglect of her family. Picked out by Thomas Cromwell as a means to ally England with Protestants in Europe, she is utterly unprepared for the real Henry Tudor. No longer the dashing prince beloved for his good looks and heroic sportsmanship, he rails in vain against his increasing age and toxic leg wound while gorging himself at dinner and lets himself believe Kitty, Anne's pretty young maid-in-waiting, is actually in love with him. Both women are treated appallingly by their families: neglected and ignored until they are seen to be of use. And now that Henry is able to remake England's laws and religion with impunity they, like all his subjects, are at his capricious mercy.
A third narrative voice comes in the person of Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and wife to George. Their ghosts haunt her, the bright, shining, most beautiful pair ever to be seen at court. The part Jane played in their deaths, and the role she now assumes in the Queen's chambers under the auspices of her uncle Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, tell a story of a woman desperate for some power of her own.
I've already reserved a copy of "The Taming of the Queen", Katherine Parr's story, from my library. Can't wait!
But it's Gregory's imagining of these women's inner voices that pulls us in. In this, the third of the Tudor Court series, the least-known of Henry's wives are given the ability to tell their own tale. Anne of Cleves is desperate to escape the cruelty and neglect of her family. Picked out by Thomas Cromwell as a means to ally England with Protestants in Europe, she is utterly unprepared for the real Henry Tudor. No longer the dashing prince beloved for his good looks and heroic sportsmanship, he rails in vain against his increasing age and toxic leg wound while gorging himself at dinner and lets himself believe Kitty, Anne's pretty young maid-in-waiting, is actually in love with him. Both women are treated appallingly by their families: neglected and ignored until they are seen to be of use. And now that Henry is able to remake England's laws and religion with impunity they, like all his subjects, are at his capricious mercy.
A third narrative voice comes in the person of Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and wife to George. Their ghosts haunt her, the bright, shining, most beautiful pair ever to be seen at court. The part Jane played in their deaths, and the role she now assumes in the Queen's chambers under the auspices of her uncle Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, tell a story of a woman desperate for some power of her own.
I've already reserved a copy of "The Taming of the Queen", Katherine Parr's story, from my library. Can't wait!
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes