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What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

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Original poster

THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE

62 replies

BitTiredNow · 03/01/2008 19:06

By Philippa Gregory - just finished it - in 2 days - not bad considering I am on my own with 3 under 4 - has anyone else read it? I was GRIPPED

OP posts:

bohemianbint · 03/01/2008 19:07

Ooooh, sounds interesting. I'm going to look it up.

Onlyaphase · 03/01/2008 19:08

Yes, have read all of hers. Loved this one though - it really made you think about what it must have been like for the wife and next wife to be, silly little thing that she was.

edam · 03/01/2008 19:09

Enjoyed it but dislike PG's anti-Anne Boleyn stance (which I remembered from the previous book and is referenced in this one).

Am vaguely reading the Catherine Parr one which I was given for Christmas.

Islamum · 03/01/2008 19:09

loved it the other boleyn girl was really good too.

Wisteria · 03/01/2008 19:09

I read it over Christmas - have you read the others in the set - The Other Boleyn Girl and The Constant Princess etc? They are all fab, as is Wideacre, although I was disappointed with the follow ups to the latter.

LittleBellasRingingInTheNew · 03/01/2008 19:11

I'm half way through a biography of Anne Boleyn and she was so much more interesting than the anti-her fiction. I had to read The other Boleyn girl for my book group and I was horrified by waht crap it was. I know you're supposed to suspend disbelief and not mind all the hystorical inaccuracies, but I just couldn't bear the sheer unbridled evil of the Anne and George characters - it was too unrealistic.

bohemianbint · 03/01/2008 19:11

right, that's on my wish list. Whats "The Other Boleyn Girl" like?

PersephoneSnowballSnape · 03/01/2008 19:16

i do like Philippa Gregory, I've read all of the tudor ones ( am slightly obsessive about tudor history..) started reading some of her others as well - wideacre was filthy! and therefore very enjoyable. ;) just finished 'fallen skies', liked that a lot - am keeping an eye out on ebay/charity shops for some of hers that i haven't read.

they're making the other Boleyn girl into a bodice-ripper movie aren't they? think i saw a poster for it an the local odeon...

bohemianbint · 03/01/2008 19:17

Sorry - I x-posted, lots of feedback about "Other Boleyn"!

Wisteria · 03/01/2008 19:17

I think Philippa Gregory is quite honest about it being fictional and it is clear that a great deal of artistic license is present but it is still a great read and there are a lot of factual parts to it, taken from letters and documents around at the time.

The other Boleyn Girl tells the story of Anne's elder sister Mary who was having a fling with Henry before Anne, it was definitely my favourite book of the ones I have read so far (although The Constant Princess was a close second).

Original poster

BitTiredNow · 03/01/2008 20:01

Another one I read (not by her) was 'The last wife' - is it 'Susannah Dunn'? Which I loved too. My favourite character in the Philippa Gregory one I have just finished was Katherine Howard - I thought that was very well written.

OP posts:

edam · 03/01/2008 20:13

Agree, Littlebellas. I feel it's somehow really below the belt to demonise Anne Boyleyn - it's what Henry did in order to get rid of her.

expatinscotland · 03/01/2008 20:18

My sister sent this to me, together with 'The Other Bolelyn Girl'. But I gave them both to charity after a page or two.

I just can't bring myself to do 'historical fiction'.

My sister filled me in on the plot.

Anne was no saint, but even Thomas More held no grudge against her at all despite her being quite involved in bringing about his execution - which Henry immediately regretted and then tried to mostly assign the blame for his actions to Anne - so I can't see the valour in demonising her any further.

expatinscotland · 03/01/2008 20:19

Katherine Howard was unfortunately a not-very-bright girl whose family used her as a pawn for their dynastic ambitions.

Waswondering · 03/01/2008 20:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

poppy34 · 03/01/2008 20:40

this is one of her best books - was very vivid in describing as expat says the comeuppance of a not very bright girl.

Also read a respectable trade (first of her non tudor books that i've read) and that was excellent.

LittleBellasRingingInTheNew · 03/01/2008 20:42

Apparantly up to the twentieth century, an "annabolina" was a Sicilian term for a woman of loose morals.

ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 03/01/2008 20:45

Was that the one about Kitty Howards rise from wench to queen, and Anne's sil?

If so, I loved it.

The Other Boleyn Girl film is released this year, I can't wait.

expatinscotland · 03/01/2008 20:57

'Was that the one about Kitty Howards rise from wench to queen, and Anne's sil?'

If that is how she was characterised, that's really a bit sad.

Again there is plenty of evidence extant that points to Katherine's not having been a virgin when she married Henry. As well as being at the very least very foolishly flirtatious during her marriage and quite possibly unfaithful.

BUT from what history also leaves us as evidence, it appears she was a good-natured person and not calculating or malicious - just a randy, not terribly bright, misguided teenager of limited literacy brought up with very little discipline or guidance and then married off to a fat man in his 50s with a stinking, ulcerated leg.

It's unfair to assign 20th century judgements to women who were born during this era, as even noble ones were the chattel of men - even queens! And their perspective was very, very different from our own.

poppy34 · 03/01/2008 21:00

expat to be fair ,the way I read the book is that kitty came across as exactly that - a well meaning girl who thought she'd get away with being a sophisticated lady at court. her stupidity/status as just a chattel came across quite strongly as the way it read to me was that right until the end she didn't actually believe she would be executed as an expendable chattel.

Waswondering · 03/01/2008 21:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

newnamefornewyearbookwormmum · 03/01/2008 21:10

I enjoyed the Boleyn Inheritance but I preferred the Other Boleyn Girl. Mary's story is more interesting as she managed to escape the axe and she was certainly no angel either. I was puzzled when I read about Kitty Howard being 16 or so when she was executed - I thought she was nearer 22 or so. Definitely a pawn in the court of Tudor but then so were Anne and Mary.

expatinscotland · 03/01/2008 21:10

She was terribly young - although we'll never really know just how young because the exact date and place of her birth was not recorded.

Anne was much, much older and more sophisticated.

But Katherine, asking to have the block brought into her room the night before her execution so she could practice laying her head on it.

That's sad.

Not to mention what happened to those convicted alongside her, Dereham in particular.

Wisteria · 03/01/2008 21:11

Expat you have described exactly my feelings on Kitty Howard after reading the book; she was in no way judged for actions or attitudes and it appeared to be a fair reflection, given what you've just said - far more eloquently than I ever could!

newnamefornewyearbookwormmum · 03/01/2008 21:15

Anne was offered beheading as a courtesy to her rank - she could have been hanged or burnt as a witch. No defence allowed to those accused of treason....

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