The Other Bolyn Girl....

[juicychops]

Just wanted to share... this is the best book i have read in a very long time and i highly recommend it!!

the film is shite in comparisson

[Roskva]

I haven't seen the film, but I really enjoyed the book. Philippa Gregory paints such a vivid picture of a king obsessed by lust and the desire for a male heir. I couldn't put it down.

The sequel, the Boleyn Inheritance is equally brilliant - the central character is George Boleyn's widow, Jane, Lady Rochford, who was lady in waiting to Anne of Cleeves and Katherine Howard.

[juicychops]

Ah cool im gunna find that and read it!

i wonder how much truth and fiction was actually in that book. i loved Mary

[Roskva]

I'm trying to get hold of Alison Weir's book 'the six wives of Henvry VIII' to find out - she's an historian who writes very readable academic books and has also written a couple of historical novels. I think Philippa Gregory has stuck closer to the history books than the Tudors on TV!

[overthemill]

oh the tudors on tv is such rubbish isn't it?!
loved phillipa gregory - have you read teh ones about the gardener - 'virgin earth' i think?

[overthemill]

and earthly joys - i think these are even beter than the tudor series, having read them all.
really enjoyed alsion wier's novel too

[themoon66]

Glad I popped onto this thread. I've been trying to decide on a book for my week lying around in the sun in Egypt. The Boleyn Inheritance I think it will be

Loved The Other Boleyn Girl

[Oblomov]

I love all of Henry VIII.
I had read review of the other Boleyn sister, re the film. Didn't realise it was based on a book. Must get. Is the film totally naff then ?

[overthemill]

film is pretty but not as 'good' as the book as it takes a slice of the book and so the characters aren't so rounded. see the film but do read the book. avoid 'a wise woman' though - really off surprisingly for PG

[Roskva]

'the wise woman' was really weird, and it ended as if she got fed up writing it. Ooh, haven't found the gardner ones yet

[beansprout]

Don't ever, ever read Wildacre by PG, it's just shockingly bad.

[MyEye]

ooh, I got sucked into a P Gregory vortex after TOBG, which really is terrifically atmospheric and persuasive. Film tanked, didn't it? Just so flat. Eric Bama is so NOT Henry Viii. Damien Lewis was robbed.

The Boleyn Inheritance is good too but the others in the Tudor Court series are deeply disappointing in comparison (Queen's Fool was so-so, but I've been aimlessly trudging through The Virgin Lover for about a month. Page turner tis not).

[overthemill]

myeye, feels like she found a theme that worked and sucked it dry pretty much. we all love a tudor story but they ended up low on detail and a bit too bodice ripper for me.

i do like to feel like i'm reading something a bit intelligent!

[juicychops]

just to let you all know, after 'the other Boleyn Girl' i read 'the Boleyn Inheritance' and i have to say these 2 books are brilliant and can stop thinking about them.

it even led me to take a trip to Hampton Court Palace today which i also loved, although wish i didn;t take ds with me as he was totally bored and complained the whole time

[moulesfrites]

I loved TOBG and then got Wideacre and agree that it was absolutely awful, the main character is an absolute bitch and spends most of her time knocking off members of her family so that she can inherit their estate. I think she was trying to make a point about the law of entail but the character was so awful you couldn't care less. Think I will stick to the tudor ones, will try The Boleyn Inheritance.

[kittywise]

glad you liked them juicychops. I am very interested in that period of history too. I bought the books but found I couldn't stand her style of writing and I couldn't finish them

[TheLadyofShalott]

Aloson Weir has now started writing historical fiction as well as non-fictional history - she started with Lady Jane Grey (Innocent Traitor) which I quite liked, though I found the style, which jumps from one narrator to another, quite off-putting. I like The Lady Elizabeth much better, it's about Elizabeth I's childhood - it's interesting that, as she says in her author's note, she has written a story which completely contradicts what she believes actually happened (she has also written a serious biography of Elizabeth)

[moulesfrites]

OOh yes Innocent Traitor, loved that too...

[MiaWallace]

I have just finished TOBG. I was rather disappointed. Although I find the Tudor period fascinating I found the book repetitive and didn?t care about any of the characters (apart from William, who sounded like the ideal husband)

I was disappointed that the language wasn?t more in keeping with the period. I also felt it was unrealistic how often Mary was present to hear the vital conversations. Of course she had to be in order to tell the story from a first person perspective, but it ruined it for me.

[mm22bys]

I have read The Other Boleyn Girl, after seeing the movie. I really hated Anne, read it and thought she deserved all she got.

I have also read the Constant Princess, about Katherine of Aragon from when she marries Arthur.

I am fascinated with the Tudor period, and have read the Alison Weir book "The Six Wives of King Henry VIII", which is broader in subject than the title may suggst.

I am watching The Tudors, but I think they have actually got Henry VIII completely wrong.

I want to read Boleyn Inheritance some time, but my pile of books to read is growing by the day!

[mm22bys]

Have just read rest of the thread! I read Wildacre, and thought it was pretty off. I may even have read the sequal, not sure why...

Since seeing the movie / reading the book (OBG) I have been to Hever Castle twice, not too far from London, and it brings it all to life!

[BouncingTurtle]

I read TOBG and The Boleyn Inheritance, but didn't really like The Queen's Fool or The Virgin Lover - thought they were fairly disappointing compared to the other two.
Haven't seen the film yet, been watching the first series of The Tudors as missed it first time around it's good but quite a few glaring historical inaccuracies.