Poetry of Reading

“The Boleyn Inheritance” is a fine historical novel. Philippa Gregory, the author, uses an interesting narrative device to tell the story of two of Henry VIII’s queens, Anne of Cleves and the clueless and luckless Catherine Howard. The story is told in brief vignettes from the eyes of three women: Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn.

Like the other books in the series, the details that Gregory puts into the Tudors’ era and the characters are magnificent. In this book, you have three different protagonists. Jane Boleyn has lots of remorse about her past and what she did to her husband and his sister. Yet she is still thirsty for wealth and plotted with her uncle to push another Howard girl in Henry’s way. Young Katherine Howard, on the other hand, is so naïve and portrayed as childish and sometimes dumb. Still, one can’t help but feel sorry for the fate she was sent to. This shows Henry’s cruelty and how he did not spare this fifteen-year-old girl whom he used. Anne of Cleves must have ended being the luckiest and the most clever one of them as she recognized Henry’s madness and understood that it was better for her to get away from him.

Gregory’s ability to blend her extensive historical knowledge with imagination makes another great read. Her telling of history through the eyes of the women at Henry’s court brings the period alive, and the different voices coming through add enormously to our understanding of what it must have been like to live through this dangerous era.