Title: The Boleyn Inheritance

Author: Philippa Gregory

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Format: paperback

Pages: 518

Rating: 4/5 stars

*Warning: mature content. Parents please be advised.*

Synopsis:

The author of The Other Boleyn Girl (2002) returns to the executed queen’s doomed family in a historical novel that maps the sad demise of Henry VIII in a series of intimate personal testimonies.

Gregory’s tale of greed and revenge takes place against the short, unhappy tenures of Henry’s fourth and fifth wives. Jockeying for position close to the throne, three powerful, ambitious women collide. The author skillfully allows each character to tell her side of the story in her own words. The first voice we hear belongs to 30-year-old Jane Boleyn, widowed sister-in-law to Anne. Jane’s husband George was implicated in his sister’s alleged infidelities and went with her to the scaffold in 1533; his calculating wife moved to save her inheritance rather than her husband and six years later is still scheming. Next up is Anne of Cleves, soon to be Queen Number Four, a provincial, German-speaking Protestant princess chosen by Henry’s advisor, Thomas Cromwell, as a politically suitable alliance to keep Spain and France at bay. Badgered and bullied all her life by her brother and mother, 24-year-old Anne wants nothing more than to escape Cleves and have a meaningful life. The third voice belongs to Katherine Howard, a pretty, 15-year-old cousin of the dead Anne Boleyn and an incorrigible flirt who is brought to court as a lady-in-waiting by her conniving, powerful uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. Also summoned to court to attend the new queen, Jane begins plotting behind the scenes with Norfolk to assure Anne of Cleve’s hasty fall and Katherine’s quick ascent in Henry’s favor.

Review:

This book is fantastic! It follows 3 points of view: Jane Boleyn, George Boleyn’s widow, Anne of Cleve’s, and Katherine Howard! Anne of Cleve’s you don’t know much about historically, so it was great to read about how she might of experienced her marriage to King Henry the Eighth, and why she chose to stay in England, rather then return home after her divorce. Katherine Howard you know more about, but she is always portrayed as an idiot in history! I think the author did a great job of showing that she was just a young girl who was not brought up to understand the workings of court and politics. And finally, Jane Boleyn is always seen as a crazy person in history, because she was jealous of her in laws, which is why people think she betrayed her husband and sister in law and gave evidence against them. She may have been crazy, but she was also ambitious and was just following the advice of a wicked uncle. Each of these three ladies received a Boleyn inheritance. Some received land, while others received the scaffold! A great historical fiction read that I would highly recommend!