The Other Boleyn Girl

Author: Philippa Gregory

Back-of-the-Book Description: Before Henry VIII ever considered making Anne Boleyn his wife, her older sister, Mary, was his mistress. Historical novelist Gregory (Virgin Earth) uses the perspective of this "other Boleyn girl" to reveal the rivalries and intrigues swirling through England. The sisters and their brother George were raised with one goal: to advance the Howard family's interests, especially against the Seymours. So when Mary catches the king's fancy, her family orders her to abandon the husband they had chosen. She bears Henry two children, including a son, but Anne's desire to be queen drives her with ruthless intensity, alienating family and foes. As Henry grows more desperate for a legitimate son and Anne strives to replace Catherine as queen, the social fabric weakens. Mary abandons court life to live with a new husband and her children in the countryside, but love and duty bring her back to Anne time and again.

My Description: Before I start my review I would like to mention that I am going to completely (with the exception of Anne's last words) ignore history in this review. All I say will be in relation to this book, so there will be no confusion in the matter.

I picked this book up because I'm tired of reading books and hearing about movies where Anne Boleyn is practically evil, and I am thinking of writing my own book... unfortunately, I didn't know much about her history, so I thought I'd read a story around the same time period and see how that was presented, so hopefully I could find something useful in the writing to help me write my own. I had a hunch this book would be for older readers (a hunch that was confirmed), but I really wanted to see how it would be presented...

Now, for the actual review...

Mary seems nice enough, though it's a little odd that she would be as virtuous as the book depicts when she is from such a cruel and heartless family, but oh well, I can live with that. I liked that I could sympathise with her falling in love with King Henry, since she had been stuck in a marriage that she had no say in, and she was only fourteen and being pushed to become the King's mistress by her ambitious family, though she should have felt more guilty about what it was doing to Catherine of Aragon (whose character I adored) than she was.

When Mary has her children, she has a complete change of morals and all she wants is to be with them. That I liked and could believe, but I found it odd how little her parents cared for her and Anne. On that same note, Anne seemed to have no feelings for Elizabeth, and though she was desperately wanting a boy, I still think that she should have had a bit more feeling for her. I guess Ms. Gregory was just trying to get us to hate her even more.

I also felt that Mary should have been more sympathetic to her husband at that point, as it was obvious he really cared for her. Also, there were several things in this book that just made me really uncomfortable.

I did, however, like the parts about Anne falling in love with Henry Percy (no, not the King, a different Henry) simply because it was sweet and it showed a less than evil picture of her, the parts with William Stafford, and the parts with Mary and her babies.

I was quite disappointed in the execution scene. There was no feeling written into that part of the book. NONE. It was if Mary were any old spectator. Not a tear was shed from her face, and Ms. Gregory didn't do Anne's last words, which really meant a lot to me. Of course, Anne's last words in real life didn't fit the character of Anne that was in the book, so I guess that's why she made Mary "unable to hear them". It was cool how that last scene was a mirror as to how the book began, but it didn't do it for me.

I was also really looking forwards to Anne and Mary coming together at the end of it all, but no, Anne stays as merciless and cruel as she was at the beginning. I was really disappointed.

All in all, highly interesting, but not something I really care about.

Reading Time: Four days

Pages: 672

Recommendations: To late teens and up who like 'risque' historical fiction.

Writing Rating: 6

Story Rating: 7

Overall Rating: 5

Book #45 of '08