A review by denisestewart
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

4.0

I was absolutely fascinated by this time period. I also enjoyed another novel of Ms Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl. The Boleyn Inheritance was a nice follow-up novel. What a crazy period of history!! A madman is a king (Henry VIII) who married and divorced and put to death many of his wives on mere whims. Since he was the king and also considered himself a God, no one argued with him and no one dared speak against him. He put many to their deaths by hanging and burning at the stake for treason and for practising any faith but his own. The Boleyn Inheritance follows the story of three different women, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn. First, it is Anne of Cleves, come to wed Henry after the death of Henry's last wife Jane Seymour (she died from sickness, not from the chopping block). Anne speaks hardly a word of English and knows nothing of how to act as a Queen, but she fancies herself as one of the greatest Queens. One of Anne's ladies in waiting is young 16-year-old Katherine Howard who catches the King's eye. Henry decides to annul his marriage to Anne, because he has come to hate Anne and can not consummate the marriage and he does split with Anne quite amicably, setting her up in a castle that at one time had been given to Anne Boleyn. Henry goes on to marry Katherine Howard, and that does not go well at all. Katherine tries her best, but of course, she does not become pregnant with the King's baby and where she is such a young thing, she takes a lover. And in between the telling of Anne's story and Katherine's story we have Jane Boleyn, who saw her husband George hung and her sister in law Anne Boleyn beheaded. Jane gave evidence against both her husband and Anne in order to save the Boleyn inheritance and the name and title. Jane also winds up testifying against Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. As I mentioned, Anne of Cleves is spared the executioner's axe, but not by much, Katherine Howard went to the block and beheaded, Jane Boleyn was dragged to the block right behind her. In the end, the Boleyn Inheritance was given. but it wasn't money, or titles, or lands, it was death by execution at the whim and order of Henry VIII. Jane and Katherine were not even granted the courtesy of a trial.