The Boleyn Inheritance
2006 • 15 pages
Ratings23
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings23
Average rating3.7
***An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.***
***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.
Series
15 primary booksThe Plantagenet and Tudor Novels is a 15-book series with 15 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Philippa Gregory.
Series
8 primary booksThe Tudor Court is a 8-book series with 8 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Philippa Gregory.
Reviews with the most likes.
Okay, the amount of Philippa Gregory I read is officially embarrassing. I have nothing to say in my defense except that a friend got two copies for Christmas, and gave her extra to me. This might actually be my favorite so far. Gregory always does a great job with multiple narrators, and here, two of the three narrators are the wives of Henry VIII whom the least is known about: Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. It being the Tudor court, there's plenty of dirt, and it's a quick, easy read. I tore through it on during the flights to and from my interview at Kansas, continually telling myself that people in airports weren't giving me skeptical looks about my literary leanings.
Didn't enjoy this one as much as others I have read but interesting nonetheless. It was quite repetitive with the 3 main characters (Jane Boleyn, katherine howard and anne of cleves.) basically telling same story just with slightly different wording so was more of a slog as the book went on.
