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Boleyn Inheritance

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Philippa Gregory continues to entertain and beguile with this latest entry to her Tudor-era historical novels, "The Boleyn Inheritance." This time around, she focuses on the tumultuous events that take place (1539-1542) following Jane Seymour's death in childbed, when Henry VIII decides to marry again, only this time he has decided to make a political alliance with the Protestant kingdom of Cleves in order to check the threatening Catholic alliance of France and Spain. "The Boleyn Inheritance" concentrates on what occurs because of this decision, as seen through the eyes of three of the women most effected by the events -- Anne of Cleves, the Protestant princess that Henry marries; Katherine Howard, the vivacious and lively young English beauty that Henry falls for; and Jane Boleyn, the widow of George Boleyn, whose testimony sent her husband and her infamous sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife, to the execution block. Believe me, if you're in on the lookout for a well written and absorbing page turner, "The Boleyn Inheritance" will definitely satisfy.

In 1539, Anne of Cleves, prepares herself for marriage to one of the most powerful men in Europe, Henry VIII of England, who has already been married three times -- once to Catherine of Aragon, whom he divorced and broke from the Catholic Church in order to marry the tempestuous and beguiling Anne Boleyn, whom he later beheaded on the suspicion that she was playing him false, and lastly to Jane Seymour who gave him the son he so devoutly wished for before expiring herself. It is not exactly the kind of marriage that most princesses would dream of, but then Anne's situation at home is hardly an ideal one. How was Anne to know that she had exchanged the firing pan for the fire? For once in England, she finds herself alone, without a proper understanding of the English language or the customs; and worse, that her new husband, Henry, dislikes her at first sight, and immediately makes his disdain known. It also soon becomes evident that Henry has taken a liking to one of her ladies in-waiting, the beautiful and vivacious Katherine Howard, and that the old monster is looking for a way out of his unwanted marriage to Anne. Has Anne come all the way to England only to face the threat of the axe like the previous Queen Anne? With few friends, and practically no one to rely on, Anne will need all her wits and a lot of luck in order to keep her neck and her good name intact...

Philippa Gregory doesn't exactly cover new ground here -- "The Boleyn Inheritance" covers much of the same ground that many casual historians are familiar with. What a brilliant idea then to make one of the chief protagonists of this novel, Jane Boleyn, a woman who has been reviled for her part in sending her husband and her sister-in-law to the execution block! And what a good notion it was to show all the backroom intrigues of the Duke of Norfolk, et al in their quest for the upper hand as seen through Jane's eyes. It added an air of immediacy, danger and poignancy that might have otherwise been absent if we'd been left with a one person point-of-view. The plotting was well done -- even and with a sense of continuity that made for smooth reading, and the juxtaposition of the three narratives was not jarring at all. Also brilliantly done was the character portrayals of the three women and of the monstrous Henry. I'll admit to being quite partial to Anne of Cleves, and so was really pleased that Philippa Gregory portrayed her as possessing courage, tenacity and intelligence. I also appreciated the author's portrayal of the heedless, pleasure seeking Katherine Howard, and surprisingly enough, found myself feeling for Jane Boleyn, and appreciating her ability to navigate the treacherous court she so ardently wanted to be part of. In all, this was a well written, very fast paced and tightly constructed novel that was a joy to read from beginning to end. Just the thing for a good winter night's read.

Having not merely read but absolutely DEVOURED The Other Boleyn Girl, I was eager to read more from Ms. Gregory, and I decided to go in chronological order by history, rather than publication order. Thus, this book came next.

I suppose it's fair to say that I liked "The Other Boleyn Girl" so much that in all honesty, anything coming after it would have little chance of living up to my massive expectations. I wanted another book that both informed and transported me, another invigorating read that made me forget the world around me and sucked me into a world I had scarcely ever imagined. But unfortunately, that simply never happened with this second foray into Ms. Gregory's meticulously researched world. Throughout this book, I was never able to lose sight of the fact that I was reading about people Ms. Gregory never actually knew personally. I never had that feeling reading "The Other Boleyn Girl". In that book, she always made me feel as if I was reading about real, living, breathing people -- not just historical figures being recreated on a page.

In Gregory's defense, there is not a lot known about the private lives of the three women she tries so hard to bring to life here. (She explains as much in author's note at the end of the book, in a move a more cynical reader might call covering her rear end.) So she had little to draw on, and perhaps she should not be faulted if her characters come off as a little flat, simply because she was unwilling to substitute juicier details for scant facts. However, it must be said that she compounds the problem by splitting her narrative into three parts. Instead of giving us a full, rich portrait of one woman, she chooses to give us a pale sketch of three.

The first woman is Anne of Cleves, King Henry VIII's fourth wife, and the first one who managed to outlive him. She comes from Lutheran Germany as part of an arranged marriage and a package deal -- her hand in holy matrimony for her brother, the Duke of Cleves' word that he'll align with Henry against his Papist enemies. Unfortunately for Anne, she has two strikes against her before her marriage can even begin. For one thing, as soon as Henry meets her, he decides that he doesn't like her. Ms. Gregory's imagining of what went wrong during this first meeting to engender such instant spite from the King is ingenious, and I'd bet dollars to donuts that what she imagined is pretty close to what actually happened. Second, the great nations of France, Spain and England at that time were like schoolgirls on a playground in the way they constantly changed allegiances and teamed up against one another. In the month or so it took Anne to get from Germany to England, many of Henry's advisors had already convinced him that he no longer needed the partnership with Cleves. Her marriage to Henry lasted barely six months, so a book solely about her would have been a slim volume indeed. She starts off as a fairly interesting character, but after she loses Queenship Anne's narrative becomes dull, and most of her passages are obviously just breaks from the actual story that's happening with the second Queen Katherine, at court.

Katherine Howard is one of the weaker elements of the book. She's a paper-thin creation, characterized only by youth, beauty and simplicity of mind. Unsurprisingly, this gets very repetitive very quickly. She is guided by her uncle, the same sinister Duke of Norfolk who stood as a shadowy, controlling figure in "The Other Boleyn Girl". Unfortunately, his appearances in this book lack the same threat and menace that he had before, and even he stands diminished in this new tome. Also diminished is the character of King Henry VIII himself. In "The Other Boleyn Girl", I understood him more as a person, and could clearly see his motivations through the eyes and actions of the characters around him. In this book, the people around him simply settle for constantly referring to him as "mad" or "a monster", and little explanation is given for how exactly he got that way, except for old age and the wound in his leg.

The most diminished of all, however, is Jane Boleyn. When she chose to make Jane a protagonist and tried to humanize her, Ms. Gregory took a humongous risk, and I do not believe that it paid off. When she's not busy trying to lead yet another queen to the scaffold, she endlessly moans about her lost husband -- a man SHE helped condemn to death in the first place. Reading her endless whining and moping about how much she loved George and Anne Boleyn highlights one of the books most dismaying flaws: its repetitiveness. The characters repeat the same things over and over again, sometimes within the same paragraph! As the book goes on (and on) it becomes more and more painfully obvious that it's been deliberately fluffed up with filler, since there was so little content to be had here. I wish Ms. Gregory and her editors had simply settled for having a shorter book. After all, there's no rule that says your book will be taken less seriously if it's less than 400 pages, is there? Let's hope not -- the repetion was so bad that in some places, I honestly started to think that maybe Phillippa Gregory didn't write this entire book.

On the whole, I wasn't SO disappointed with this book that I'll stop reading Ms. Gregory's books, but I have to admit that I've lowered her pedastal a few feet. And I'll keep reading the other books in this series in hopes that at least one other will match the brilliance of "The Other Boleyn Girl".

I'm always up for another round with Henry VIII and his wives, so I put myself on the library waiting list for The Boleyn Inheritance.

And I'm pleased to report that I enjoyed it immensely.

The Boleyn Inheritance is told by Jane, Lady Rochford, widow of the executed George Boleyn; Anne of Cleves; and Katherine "Kitty" Howard. Jane, self-justifying and self-deceiving, is obsessed with her past yet determined to do whatever she has to do in order to restore her life to its former glamour. Anne, no stupid Flanders mare but a sensible, honorable young woman who longs for freedom and respect, finds that she has exchanged the humiliations of her brother's court for the reign of terror of Henry's. Kitty is an airheaded teenager, with an endless capacity to push aside unpleasant realities in favor of her more satisfying interests: young men, jewels, and pretty clothes. Manipulating Jane and Kitty is the sinister Duke of Norfolk, and stalking through all three women's lives is the unpredictable, increasingly tyrannical Henry VIII.

Gregory juggles the heroines' stories masterfully. Even when Anne of Cleves is relegated to the background and the machinations of the Duke of Norfolk and Jane take center stage, Anne remains to comment on what she sees around her. She, the outsider, becomes both the moral center of the novel and the narrator on which the reader can most rely for an accurate perception of events. Kitty's adolescent preoccupations and mercurial character are captured wonderfully, while Jane, morally repulsive as she is, has a normalcy about her that keeps us reading her story and wondering at her motivations.

There's a certain humor here, often quite dark, that was missing altogether in the very earnest Constant Princess. Much of this comes from Kitty's youthful blatherings ("France would be wonderful, except I cannot speak French, or at any rate only "voila!" but surely they must mostly all speak English? And if not, then they can learn?"), but the more cynical Jane Rochford contributes some memorable lines: "If she declares herself Dereham's wife, then she has not then cuckolded the king but only Dereham; and since his head is on London Bridge, he is in no position to complain."

And neither am I. Read this one.

In what may be her finest work, historical fiction novelist Philippa Gregory (who loves the Tudor era at least as much as I do) returns to Henry VIII and his complicated lifestyle with "The Boleyn Inheritance". It is here she finds her voice and a better editor to create the court and the women who compelled it after the death of Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife.

In 1998, in his book "The Hours", author Michael Cunningham created a book with three voices, all heroines, in different eras. The characters were brilliantly brought to the screen (in a film that was devastatingly long and depressing) and captured an Academy award for Nicole Kidman and some serious applause for co-stars Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Ed Harris. The writing tool, that of three points of feminine view, has been used many times since then; one memory is the delicious

"Mrs. Kimble" by Jennifer Haigh in 2003 where the convention was spiced up in that the three women who tell the tale were all wives of the infamous Mr. Kimble.

Gregory has used that device here, and it has improved the story immensely. She chooses to tell the story from the viewpoint of three unlikely and very different women, who were brought together in one place and one time by the demands of the difficult Henry. Anne of Cleves, the young German noble who became Henry's 4th wife, Jane Boleyn, the Lady Rochford who was featured in Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl" and Katherine Howard, the poor teenaged girl who enchanted Henry and became his 5th wife, all see the times from different viewpoints. All three captivate in Gregory's novel.

You will come away respecting the acts of Anne of Cleves, and by being alternately annoyed and captivated by Kitty Howard (and sad at her horrible demise).

But the true genius of Gregory's novel is the third point of view. I hated Jane Parker Boleyn in "The Other Boleyn Girl" for being a vapid, stupid pawn. Jane betrayed her husband, Anne Boleyn's brother, George, and gave the evidence that caused both Anne and George to be killed. In this book, we see how Jane herself is played as a pawn of the Machiavellian uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. Jane understands and hates her betrayal but tries to save her own life, her fortune, and to ultimately try to convince her uncle to find her a future mate. In return, she spies for him, and does his bidding with a variety of machinations she accomplishes in the background, as a lady in waiting to first Anne and then Katherine. And although both see her for what she is, both are compelled to trust her and heed her advice.

Late in the book, when confronted with her true nature by the Duke, in a scene so full of verbal brutality that it difficult to read, Jane nevertheless hatches a plan to save herself.

Seeing Anne and Kitty through Jane's eyes, (and vice versa) and seeing Henry's evil nature and utter power from the viewpoint of all three women; feeling their fear of death whether they have or have not been true to the crown, leaves you with a powerful sense of actually witnessing events.

It's a powerful work of historical fiction, one that I can highly recommend.

This is a must for lovers of reading anything and everything Tudor. A fascinating look at two of Henry's little known queens, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. This book might be difficult to get into at first if you have no prior knowledge of Henry VIII and his wives, but it's worth sticking with it.

I loved the way the author told the story from the viewpoint of Anne, Katherine and Jane Boleyn (who was married to George Bolyen, the first Anne's brother). The characters were brilliantly portrayed and came alive before my eyes. Anne, just trying to stay alive in a court riddled with intrigue, Jane scheming with her uncle to put another Howard on the throne, and Katherine (LOL) the not too bright but very beautiful 15 year old who just wanted to look pretty and have pretty things and be admired by handsome men. There were times I was laughing out loud at Kitty's comments, and the chapters that repeatedly started with another accounting of "what do I have now?", as she counted her jewels and clothes.

Through these three women we see Anne and Kitty caught up in something they are helpless to stop, Henry's lusting after young Kitty and his determination to put Anne aside at any cost to have Kitty. Most fascinating of all is the way Henry is portrayed through all three women, and he is terrifying indeed. An absolute ruler, with complete power over all around him and mad as a hatter. And wonderful to see that of all of them, Anne was able to come through the terror unscathed and a free, independent woman.

Highly highly recommended.

Anne of Cleves. Katherine Howard. Jane Rochford. These three women share an inheritance born of deceit and political ambition, cast upon a stage with monarch Henry VIII, a man who has deluded himself into believing he is the direct recipient of God's word. By the time Henry has given Anne Boleyn over to the court for execution, he is infected with a persistent madness that touches all those around him. Advised by the Duke of Norfolk, who raised two Howard women to the throne of England only to see them die and the pliant inquisitors who do the king's bidding, Henry has become a terror: "He is a danger... be warned." In this fascinating novel, Gregory reveals the inner lives of Anne, Katherine and Jane, their dreams and terrors, interpreting their lives from a female perspective and their place in history, ever at the mercy of powerful men.

Not long after Jane Seymour dies in childbirth, Henry arranges a marriage with Anne of Cleves in 1539. Anne arrives at court unable to speak any language but German; her lack of communication causes a faux pas that costs her Henry's enmity for the duration of their marriage and nearly her life. Fortunately for Anne, Henry is anxious to put her aside to wed Katherine Howard, a fifteen-year-old in the queen's entourage who takes his fancy, allowing the aging king to imagine his youthful manhood reinvigorated. Katherine is clearly a fool, but ignorant of the dangers of court life, falling into a trap of the Howard's making, left to fend for herself when the king turns against her. Lady-in-waiting to both queens, Jane Rochford, wife of George Boleyn and sister-in-law of Anne, gave evidence against brother and sister, thereby saving her own head in lieu of theirs. A convenient and loyal pawn of the Duke of Norfolk, Jane does his bidding in an attempt to secure her future no matter the cost to the queens she serves.

Anne is stolid, Germanic in temperament and not pleasing to Henry, yet the most fortunate, her stodgy ways separating her from Henry's wrath once he has put her aside as wife. When he desires Katherine, Anne is only worried for the girl's lack of common sense. Jane Rochford is the most challenging in her self-delusion and easy complicity with the Duke's plans, rationalizing her behavior, resisting to the end the shame of her existence. In the voices of Anne, Katherine and Jane, the story spins out over a few years, the court out of control under Henry's truculence and ill-temper, the country in thrall to the whims of a madman. By the time Katherine is beheaded, the women have played their parts, puppets of a megalomaniac and his minions. In this chilling account of life in Henry's court, betrayal abounds, the days harrowing as Jane, Anne and Katherine scramble for security. As hardy, brave and complex as any of their counselors, paramours or agents, Gregory's female characters are infinitely compelling, rising from the pages of history to claim their own inheritance. Luan Gaines/2006.

If (like me) you loved "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Queen's Fool" but found "The Virgin's Lover" ridiculous and "The Constant Princess" dull, Philippa Gregory's latest book is good news indeed. It marks a return to what made the first two of her Tudor books so irresistible: believable characters you enjoy spending time with and with whom you sympathize, sometimes in spite of yourself.

Gregory uses three narrators: Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn, and presents them without bearing judgment on them. Anne of Cleves is a particularly well-rounded character, and even though you know her fate, the twists of her storyline keeps you turning the pages (well past bedtime, in my case). The writing is smooth without being slick, descriptive without being cumbersome.

I have just two quibbles: The voices of Anne and Jane are very similar, and the course of events that hardened Henry's heart against Katherine are skimmed over. But all in all it's great to be able to recommend one of Gregory's novels again!

"The Boleyn Inheritance" is a fine historical novel. Philippa Gregory, the author, uses an interesting narrative device to tell the story of two of Henry VIII's queens, Anne of Cleves and the clueless and luckless Catherine Howard. The story is told in brief vignettes from the eyes of three women--Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn.

Boleyn is a master of treachery. She had consigned her husband and sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn, to death by her testimony against them. In the process, she protected, in her mind, "the Boleyn Inheritance." In this volume, she serves both queens as a part of their staff.

Each of the three characters provides some light on the ongoing narrative of Henry's inability to produce more sons. Henry is displeased with Anne when she does not recognize him and responds in horror at his advances toward her; Catherine Howard is portrayed as something of a self-absorbed dimwit, who cares for herself and little more.

High politics leads the Duke of Norfolk to work with Jane Boleyn to make "Kitty" Howard queen at sixteen years of age. Anne escapes with her life in the process, to serve as the "King's sister." Katherine is not so lucky, as she falls in love with someone other than her huband, Henry VIII. In the end, her foolishness and poor choice of staff doom her. And, in the process, Jane Boleyn as well.

Altogether, the novel's device of a story told through the eyes of three different people works pretty well. This is a very readable book and provides a flavor for life in England under a miserable, rapidly aging king who is a tyrant. For those interested in historical fiction, this is well worth looking at.

Philippa Gregory fans have much to celebrate.

In this latest installation of The Other Boleyn Girl series, Ms Gregory, today's supreme diva of historical literature, crafts a magnificent rendition of the lives of Anne of Cleves, Lady Rochford (Jane Boleyn), and Katherine Howard with her trademark mesmeric and empathic story telling ability.

It is 1539. England is held in submission by a tyrannical and aging monarch of increasingly aberrant behavior. As Henry VIII descends into madness and pain, it becomes impossible to predict how or by whom he will be offended. The consequences are mortal: death by decapitation or worse. The wife killer seeks a bride, and political machinations by Henry's courtiers and the Bavarian Duke of Cleves lead to an arranged marriage with the Duke's sister Anne. She arrives hopeful, dutiful, and eager to begin a new life away from her virtual prison on her brother's estate. She aspires to be a good queen, and an asset to her people. To her shock she enters a world more frightening and occult than she imagined possible. The duplicitous and insane Lady Rochford, head of Anne's privy chamber, is the sinister pawn of the evil Duke of Norfolk, and together these two reptilian allies scheme to oust Anne and install Katherine Howard as the queen.

Told in three distinct voices, we watch as the terrifying events unfold. The suspense builds, and is not diminished by the fact that the reader likely already knows from their history lessons how the story will end. Anne is the true victor; the one who survives the lunacy to live a semi-independent life in the country. Her story is at once poignant and magnificent. Katherine Howard is clever but fatally naive, and reminds one of a sixteenth century Paris Hilton style party girl. Lady Rochford begins the story as predatory, and ends as... well I'll let you read that for yourself. Gregory's artistic license is well employed.

I can hardly wait for the next book.

"The Boleyn Inheritance" picks up right where "The Other Boleyn Girl" left off. This novel focuses on two more of Henry VIII's unlucky wives: Anne of Cleves, the German woman hand-picked by Henry himself and whose disastrous first encounter with the king dooms her reign before it even begins; and Katherine Howard, a beautiful but rather stupid young girl of 15 who is ordered by her family to cause the much-older King Henry to fall in love with her.

Although this book isn't quite as good as "The Other Boleyn Girl" (and really, how could it be?), I enjoyed it very much. Author Philippa Gregory tells the story from three opposing points of view: Anne, Katherine, and none other than Jane Boleyn, who manages to wiggle her way back to court after condemning her brother and sister-in-law to death. The multiple narrators offer a variety of perspectives on life at court during this fragile period of time. I enjoyed the chapters narrated by Katherine most of all: her vanity and ignorance are apparent in every word, making everything she says and does laugh-out-loud hilarious, which makes the tragic ending of this book all the more painful.

I enjoyed "The Boleyn Inheritance" immensely. It's a rather long book, but I devoured it in just a couple of days. If you enjoy historical fiction and are a fan of Gregory's other work, you should definitely pick up a copy of this book.