Synopsis:
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: The love of a king
When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realises just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king and take fate into her own hands.
A rich and compelling novel of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamourous court in Europe and survived by following her heart.
My Review:
“You can smile when your heart is breaking because you're a woman.”
Philippa Gregory retells the story of Anne Boleyn as seen through the eyes of her younger sister, Mary. The Boleyn Girls, along with their brother George, have been attending the king of England’s court since they were children. At the age of fourteen, Mary captures the attention of King Henry VIII. Even though both of them are already married, Mary and Henry become lovers at the insistence of the Boleyn family, which uses Mary as a pawn in its desire for advancement within the royal circle. Mary struggles with her desires for the king, her loyalty to her husband, and her rivalry with her sister, Anne, who eventually surpasses Mary in the king’s eyes and sets her sights on becoming the next queen of England.
This is, first and foremost, the story of Mary Boleyn, a woman who has generally been reduced to a footnote in history. It is notable, however, that she was the only Boleyn sibling to survive the purges of the Tudor court and who, ultimately, married for love in an age when this was not the norm among those of her class. It is also the story of Anne Boleyn, her rise and fall, as seen through the eyes of her sister, Mary.
Gregory focuses on the rivalry between sisters Mary and her more infamous (and unlucky) sister Anne, playing on traditional archetypes in fairly obvious ways: while Mary is presented as fair, conventionally pretty, not especially bright, and all English, Anne is dark, intelligent, ambitious, "French" (with all the negative associations that are attached), and self-centered. Yet it is these flaws that make both characters compelling, and readers have to pity the lack of freedom and individual agency the women have as pawns of the powerful men in their lives.
To a lesser degree, it is also the story of their brother, George, a more remote, though no less interesting, personage. His interjection into the story is necessary, as the author attempts to address the issue of incest that arose at the trial of George and Anne Boleyn. She gives quite an interesting perspective on the issue, weaving it, part and parcel, into the story to explain his downfall, as well as his betrayal by his wife.
Told against the magnificent backdrop of the Tudor Court in all its splendor and majesty, the author weaves a complex tale of greed, ambition, sex, and political machination, and unparalleled intrigue, in sixteenth-century England. Filled with well-fleshed characters taken right out of the annals of history, the story is one that is sure to delight all those with a love for well-written historical fiction. The author makes no bones about how women were used as pawns, devices in a dangerous game of ambition, scheming and desire to advance a family’s reputation.
While the book is not historically accurate, the miscues and factual errors aren’t glaring enough to disturb the flow of the novel, and Gregory should be commended for nailing the sycophantic and cutthroat atmosphere that prevailed in the Tudor court.
My Rating:
✬✬✬✬✬
