The Other Boleyn Girl
by Bluestocking on February 27, 2008
Originally posted at: The Bluestocking Guide: Reviews by a Partial, Prejudiced, and Ignorant Reader
tags: anne boleyn, catherine of aragon, george boleyn, henry viii, mary boleyn,Leave a comment
by Philippa Gregory
ISBN 1416560602
661 pages
This book is rated
Q
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
So everyone, the movie based upon this book comes out on Friday. So I thought I’d review it.
Most people have a fascination with the reign of Henry VIII. I mean the man had six wives and he was also responsible for the break with the Catholic church which truly shaped history as we know it. This book tells the tale of the Boleyn sisters- Anne (who became queen) and Mary. Philippa Gregory bases her book on the historian Retha Warnick’s work. This historian’s theory as to Anne Boleyn and her siblings has largely been discredited by the historian world. Why then did Gregory use this book, well it’s a much more entertaining read than the actual history.
The tone is set in the first chapter with the King executing the Duke of Buckingham who has committed treason by suggesting that Henry cannot produce a son. In this book, Mary is the younger Boleyn sister, though in reality she was the older sister. She was married at 14 to William Carey, one of many courtiers to King Henry and is now 16 when the story opens. Anne has recently returned from her time in France as a lady-in-waiting to the French Queen. Anne and Mary’s mother was a member of the powerful Howard family. Their uncle, and Earl, is a scheming man who will use any and everyone in his family to make the family more prominent.
The current Queen, Catherine of Aragon is fast approaching middle age and is unable to produce a male heir to the kingdom which Henry VII recently acquired through his marriage to Elizabeth of York. Henry VIII is desperate for a son. When he favorably impressed by Mary, the Howard/Boleyn family are pleased. Her family sets aside her marriage so that she may become mistress to the king. Their hope is that Mary will produce an heir. Anne and their brother George are commanded to help Mary as they are often in close proximity to her at court. Reluctantly, Mary agrees to this; in reality her family leaves her no choice. She gives birth to two children by the King- Catherine and Henry. The fortune of the Boleyn family soars. While pregnant the second time, Anne flirts with the king in an effort to keep other women away from him. In reality she has set her sights high- set intends to take the throne. Mary unwitting plants the seeds in Henry’s mind of how to get rid of his current wife. She tells him she doesn’t understand why English church matters should be decided anywhere else but in England by the English.
Next we hear, Henry is conducting secret ecclesiastical courts to determine whether his marriage to Catherine was valid. The whole while, Mary is falling more out of favor with Henry who now wants Anne. As the story progresses we see what a scheming, ruthless woman Anne is. As we all know from history, Henry succeeds in divorcing Catherine and marries Anne. During this time, Mary secretly marries a commoner for love and gives birth to another daughter. Of course Anne gives birth to Elizabeth and is quite furious about it. Anne has several miscarriages that Mary, her mother, their brother, George, and Mary’s husband William hide. During this period of time women who miscarried were considered as under some curse from God. During this period of time the English court which had been marked by propriety when Catherine was Queen, descends into a moral laxness that really is rakehellishness. (Rakehell is a word) Innuendo begins to surround the Queen.
Finally Anne becomes pregnant again and experiences the “quickening.” All is not as well as it seems because the king has found another favorite and is beginning to accuse Anne of not being chaste before marriage. To make matters worse, Anne goes into premature labor and loses the baby which was a son. However, the baby was born deformed. Mary begins to suspect that Anne has done “anything” to have a child. Unfortunately, the mid-wife Henry hired believes Anne is a witch. So Anne, George, and several other men are rounded up, tried, and finally executed. As you know from history, Anne and George were accused of incest. The other men were also accused of having been Anne’s lovers. Mary escapes due to the foresight of her husband. On the day Anne is executed, she and her husband leave London for their country estate never to return to court.
This book was not quite what I expected in the same way that the Canterbury Tales were. If you read literature from this period, you will know that there was a great deal of bawdiness. Women were seen as pawns to obtain greater power and influence. The Boleyn sisters were essentially given parts to play from their youth. Anne was the clever one. Mary was the “milk and honey” sister. They were rivals. They were also portrayed as being disposable by the Howard family.
In the background, you do see that Anne was a religious reformer. It’s not a major theme however. In fact Anne was probably the greatest social influence of anyone in English history. Anyway, in reality, Anne and George were quite pious whereas Mary was extraordinarily unchaste. In fact Mary had been the mistress of the King of France prior to Henry. Her parents summoned her home due to her immoral behavior, and were quite appalled by it. Anne in fact remained chaste to her marriage day; and their brother George was not a Sodomite as alleged. In fact all of the accusers at Anne and George’s trial later recanted their stories. In fact when George’s wife was put on trial for her part in assisting Catherine Howard in her supposed adulterous affairs, she felt that she was being punished by God for betraying her husband. But like I said earlier. It wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting a story.
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