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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Another saga in Phillippa Gregory's tales of Henry VIII and his women. This book follows his marriage to his 4th and 5th wives, Anne of Cleaves and Katherine. The book bounces between 3 POV, the 2 ladies and Jane Boleyn, the SIL of Anne and Mary Boleyn. This book was definitely better than her past few have been, and she's getting less trashy (i.e. obsessed with incest) as she goes along. The question when you read these is always how much of it is true, but it seems like enough is true that you get the basic facts and enjoy the rest of the ride. It's interesting to theorize how choices some of these women made came back to bite them in the rear eventually. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool.
my favorite book in the series (so far)!
I loved that in this book we get 3 POVs and I was engaged with each of their stories and perspectives. I found how she portrayed both Anne and Katherine so endearing.
I loved that in this book we get 3 POVs and I was engaged with each of their stories and perspectives. I found how she portrayed both Anne and Katherine so endearing.
Damn book gave me eye strain. It was basically like watching The Tudors, only in book form. Which is not a bad thing, because, well, obviously I had trouble putting it down. A guilty pleasure for all those people out there who think they only read highbrow books.
The book is in the perspective of the 4th and 5th wives of Henry, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn (the sister in law of Queen Anne Boleyn).
We'll start with Anne of Cleves, chosen to be Queen of England by a portrait of herself, sent from Germany to an unknown county and unaware of what she's got herself into by being Queen, and frightened of what will happen to her due to the not successful prior Queens and wives of Henry.
Then there's young Katherine Howard, a flirtatious girl who started out as one of Anne's ladies maid and ended up Queen of England, until her 'promiscuous' life got the better of her and her head saw the chopping block. (Really Henry another one).
And lastly the Lady Rochford, widowed wife of Thomas Boleyn, who has been witness to the ruthlessness of Henry before and is haunted by the past, who was given the task to guide both Queens, whilst she was their ladies maid.
I enjoyed reading in the difderent perspectives, and how each if them women saw not only themselves but Henry as well as an old man as opposed to the young vibrant king he was in the Other Boleyn girl.
All in all what's left to say is that tall, large, Henry the 8th, supreme head of the Church of England, really didn't need to ruin that many lives with his insane need for beheading.
We'll start with Anne of Cleves, chosen to be Queen of England by a portrait of herself, sent from Germany to an unknown county and unaware of what she's got herself into by being Queen, and frightened of what will happen to her due to the not successful prior Queens and wives of Henry.
Then there's young Katherine Howard, a flirtatious girl who started out as one of Anne's ladies maid and ended up Queen of England, until her 'promiscuous' life got the better of her and her head saw the chopping block. (Really Henry another one).
And lastly the Lady Rochford, widowed wife of Thomas Boleyn, who has been witness to the ruthlessness of Henry before and is haunted by the past, who was given the task to guide both Queens, whilst she was their ladies maid.
I enjoyed reading in the difderent perspectives, and how each if them women saw not only themselves but Henry as well as an old man as opposed to the young vibrant king he was in the Other Boleyn girl.
All in all what's left to say is that tall, large, Henry the 8th, supreme head of the Church of England, really didn't need to ruin that many lives with his insane need for beheading.
I wasn't sure if I would like the three-person perspective here, but because the three of these women were so extreme in their views/bias, it really wouldn't have made a good book to come from one point. I found myself sympathetic to all three, which is a feat because I finished The Other Boleyn Girl wanting Jane to die.
My favorite part of the book was the little section at the end where Gregory lets us in on what is actually known and what she added of her own. Loved the section about Jane. :)
My favorite part of the book was the little section at the end where Gregory lets us in on what is actually known and what she added of her own. Loved the section about Jane. :)
This book was definitely readable, it just seemed too sensationalized/romanticized. This is the story of Henry VIII's wives Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard (there was only one more wife left after these ones before he finally died). The story is told by alternating the points of view of these two women and also the late Anne Boleyn's sister in law Jane, who had married Anne's brother George and gave evidence against them at their trial. I liked that it switched between the points of view. I also grew to like the characters of Anne and Kitty (no one liked Jane). I felt so badly for poor Kitty, she was only 14-16 in this book and, since it's history, and we all know what's happened, it's not a spoiler to say that she was put to death. By all accounts, she was a young fluff teenager, not grown up the way some teens were at that time. Just being alive in the time of Henry VIII was so scary... but something about the book.. the way it was written was that it was dumbed down, I didn't like that. I can't explain it, because it did have all the history in it, but it seemed too much of the time like it was a chick flick romance novel type thing instead of a historical fiction work. I dunno. Still read it, because it's probably not often that you'll see something from the point of view of Kitty and Jane, and maybe not even Anne of Cleves. England around this time was so interesting, but interesting in a i want to read about the past kind of way and not a i wish i lived then kind of way. it sounds horrific.
really enjoyable, i particularly liked how the writing style changed depending on whose perspective the chapter was in.
4.25! Also loved this one though just a tiny bit less than The Other Boleyn Girl. I really enjoyed the varying viewpoints in this and how they overlapped to tell the story. And also how the opinions shifted and are somewhat contrary to the events of the previous book. The authors afterward was incredibly impactful and I loved hearing her very strong opinion of Henry VIII. He was clearly a tyrant and she does not mince words when she states that history has romanticized Henry VIII and villainized the women in his life.