The Boleyn Inheritance [Kindle Edition]

I am a big fan of Philipa Gregory's novels and am also very interested in Tudor history, so I am naturally biased towards enjoying a book that brings to life those times so vividly.

This novel, like many of Gregory's, is different to the majority of historical fiction floating around. Her research is extensive and her creative license is therefore built upon a real historian's detective work. The book focuses on Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn and the chapters are divided between their three voices as the story unfolds. This is where the genius of the book lies. Elsewhere, the two Queens are normally dealt with in a more perfunctory way than even Henry VIII himself did. Gregory however skilfully gives them a realistic and sustained voice as women. Katherine Howard is characterised so well that the first time I reached one of 'her chapters' I smiled and fully, finally, recognised an authentic voice for her after years of reading Tudor history.

The strength of characterisation and the choice to give a voice to women usually passed over in this story as brief 'middle' wives before Henry finally expired whilst married to Katherine Parr is what makes this novel so potent. I read it in two days.

The Boleyn Inheritance was my second Philippa Gregory book and I enjoyed it even more than the first (The Other Boleyn Girl). I loved seeing how things panned out, depending on which side of the fence the narrator was on, and I really felt like I knew the characters and their motivation by the end. The end just came too soon for me. I'd have liked it to carry on and on, especially Anne's part.

Anne's and Katherine's chapters were more entertaining than Jane's but that's probably because Jane's chapters/thoughts/narration were primarily about her own self inflicted torment and delusions over her husband's and Anne Boleyn's betrayal. Her narrative had a definite air of madness about it as the story progressed. By the end she was a broken woman and I don't doubt she was as mad as box of frogs. I don't pity her though.....well, not much anyway.

I love that I feel I know these women a little better now (albeit in a fictional way) and will look out for other fictional works which cover the Tudors.

King Henry was vividly repulsive in the pages, to the point where I swear I could smell the supporating wound on his leg every time I opened the pages. At best he was delusional, at worst he was a maniac and I wonder how anyone could bear to be around him.

All in all it's a great read, I just hope I can find a worthy bedtime read to replace it, now it's finished. That's the worst part of a good book.....it's over too soon.

I find Philippa Gregory's novels a little variable, but I really enjoyed this one. It gave a new perspective on three characters about whom I knew little, despite being very well read on the Tudor period. The historical accuracy of some of it is of course questionable, and the author makes no secret of that in her Appendix, but nevertheless it was an interesting and believable account of events seen through the eyes of three very different women.

One reviewer has expresed disappointment that Katherine Howard is portrayed as a silly and vacuous 15-year-old, but I think it very likely that this was a pretty accurate portrayal. It is certainly known that she was practically illiterate, promiscuous and vain, and that her only assets were her looks. It is difficult in this account to feel much sympathy for her most of the time, but we must remember that her ignorance meant that she was manipulated by her unscrupulous uncle for political ends and paid a huge price.

Anne of Cleves comes across as an intelligent, thoughtful and discreet woman, who had a very lucky escape. One feels a certain sympathy for her, in that she was forced into exile, still only in her 20s, and never able to marry, but at least she was spared having to live with an increasingly deranged King, and she kept her head! The one aspect of this book which I didn't think rang true was the much-repeated assertion that Anne's life was at risk while the King was still alive. This seems unlikely, because once she had been divorced from the King she was no threat to him and it seems unlikely that he would have risked the consequences of getting rid of her. In fact it is generally believed that she and the King got on well after the divorce and she was very friendly with his children. However, Anne did live in dangerous times, and it is interesting to see the King through her eyes, because while she herself is careful to keep on his good side and not 'rock the boat' she observes in private that he is mad and becoming more so. While it is well known that Henry VIII was quite a brutal King, especially later in his reign, the descent into madness is a new perspective.

The third character, Jane Boleyn, is a very complex one. She is totally self-absorbed, haunted by the past, by her betrayal of her sister-in-law Anne Boleyn and her own husband which led to their execution, although she seems to show little remorse. She is obviously not to be trusted and is sly and manipulative, and uses and betrays people for her own ends. No-one likes or trusts her except the naive young Katherine, who knows no better, and she ends up without friend or advocate, always teetering on the edge of madness. In the end she pays the price and it is difficult to feel much sympathy for her.

I really enjoyed the characterisations and the way in which this book gave the reader a real sense of how dangerous it was to be close to the King and his court in those times, when a careless word could lead to imprisonment or death. Highly recommended.