Product Description

Fabulous historical novel set in the court of King Henry VIII. Mary Boleyn attracts the attention of the young king and becomes his mistress; when he tires of her, she sets out to school her sister, Anne, as a replacement. Politics and passion are inextricably bound together in this compelling drama. The Boleyn family is keen to rise through the ranks of society, and what better way to attract the attention of the most powerful in the land than to place their most beautiful young woman at court? But Mary becomes the king's mistress at a time of change. He needs his personal pleasures, but he also needs an heir. The unthinkable happens and the course of English history is irrevocably changed. For the women at the heart of the storm, they have only one weapon; and when it's no longer enough to be the mistress, Mary must groom her younger sister in the ways of the king. What happens next is common knowledge -- but here it is told in a way we've never heard it before, with all of Philippa Gregory's characteristic perceptiveness, backed by meticulous research and superb storytelling skills.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #929 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Everyone knows the fate of Anne Boleyn, but not many know the story of her rise to majesty and the part played by her rival and sister, Mary, who was Henry's mistress and mother to two of his bastard children before the dazzling older Boleyn girl even caught his eye. Philippa Gregory, whose own role as the Queen of historical romance grows more secure with each new novel, has surpassed her self with this epic tale of lust, jealousy and betrayal. The Other Boleyn Girl charts the lives of both Boleyns--each in their turn "the other Boleyn Girl"--and their fiercely ambitious, conniving family who used the girls as pawns to advance their own positions at the court of Henry VIII. At 13, Mary is little more than a child when she is presented to Henry, ordered by her scheming family to serve her King and country by opening her legs whenever commanded, or doing anything else the great monarch desires. And while his loins are satisfied, life at court is sweet for the unofficial Queen and her pushy coterie. Inevitably though, the King's eyes soon begin to wander and Mary is overlooked, helpless to do anything but aid her family's plot to advance their fortunes, replace her with Anne and give Henry the greatest gift of all: a son and heir.

So good a job has Ms Gregory done at portraying the Boleyns and Howards as selfish, scheming, treacherous manipulators however, that it becomes increasingly hard to feel empathy for any of them. While Mary is merely hapless, Anne is the most ruthless of them all, so that instead of feeling cheated by knowing the outcome of her story, it only serves to help digest her unpalatable rise. Such a gruesome destiny was never more deserved. Ms Gregory has worked hard at researching her historical references. Daily life at court is described in fascinating detail--from the relentless leisure pursuits, masques and banquets laid on for the easily bored King to the complex hierarchies and machinations of the courtiers. However, the fall of Queen Katherine of Aragon and her only child, the Princess Mary, and the politics of the competing European courts and the break with Rome are seen only as a backdrop to the bawdy goings-on of the Boleyns and their fateful race for the crown. --Carey Green

Review
'When it comes to writers of historical fiction, Philippa Gregory is in the very top league' DAILY MAIL 'It is a credit to Gregory that she is able to sustain interest in an epic-length tale when the ending is one of the most well-known moments in english history. The very believable dialogue and detail take you all the way into the claustrophobic privy chambers of the royal palaces!Gregory has launched herself into a popular period and produced something with that most underrated of virtues: readability.' THE TIMES 'Philippa Gregory's books are always a good read' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'This is an intelligent variation on a familiar tale [with] witty use of metaphor' TLS Praise for EARTHLY JOYS 'Brilliantly true to the period! I was entranced' Lisa Jardine, Times Praise for VIRGIN EARTH 'A gripping story' Mail on Sunday 'Exciting and fascinating' Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher
From the author PHILIPA GREGORY I knew I wanted to write a novel set in the Tudor period and I was reading around in various history books when I came across a reference to Henry VIII launching a ship called the Mary Boleyn. I first thought the author must have made a mistake, I knew of the ship the Mary Rose, of course, and I knew the name Anne Boleyn, but I had not remembered her sister Mary, and I could not think why a girl from a relatively minor family at court should be so honoured. I started a programme of research which slowly pieced together one of the most compelling and complicated stories of love and betrayal, sex and family. Mary Boleyn was the youngest daughter of the Boleyn family, her older sister was Anne and her brother was the family's only son and heir. The Boleyns, like all the Tudor families were making their way upward in the world by the King's patronage and favour. Therefore their son was groomed to be his friend and was one of the young King's companions at court. When Mary was 14 years old she was brought to court as lady in waiting to Katherine of Aragon, and married to another of the King's friends, William Stafford. However she soon took the eye of the King and became his mistress. Her sister Anne joined her at court, and the entire family managed and encouraged Mary's relationship with the King which immediately brought them grants of lands, wealth, and position. Mary had two children by the King, the first a girl she named Catherine, and the second the son and heir that Henry would want so desperately later in life. They called him Henry and he took the surname of Mary's husband Stafford. However, while Mary was in the long six weeks of childbed it was always the King's habit to take another mistress and this time he took a liking to Anne. Unlike her sister, and unlike any woman before, Anne refused to become his mistress but retained his interest. For an unbelievable six long years Anne kept the most powerful man in England in love with her but did not become his lover. As we all know, she thus forced him to propose marriage, to put aside a faultless and loyal Queen, to destroy the unity of the Roman Catholic Church, and to make a martyr of one of England's greatest philosophers: Sir Thomas More. In my novel I show the Boleyns supporting Anne through this long waiting period and Mary, once the informal Queen of the court pushed back into the role of Anne's lady in waiting. In my novel Mary and George come to serve their sister and tolerate her bad moods and sweeten her as best they can while the King is slowly more and more entrapped.

Mary's own life changes. She has two children to bring up and her husband dies of sweating fever. She falls in love, simply and without calculation, with a poor man in her uncle's service. She becomes his wife in secret, against all common sense and worldly ambition, and it is this passion of hers which really gave me a key to her character. She must have been a woman of extraordinary determination and desire, to turn her back on her family's ambition and pride and marry instead for love. Of all the letters she must have written in her life, by luck, the only one we have is her defending her decision to the king's Secretary Cromwell. She writes: "Well might I have had a greater man of birth and higher, but I ensure you I could never have had one that should a loved me so well nor a more honest man." (and in a powerful dig at her sister) "I had rather beg my bread with him than be the greatest Queen crowned."

Extraordinarily, though the Anne Boleyn story ends in accusations of witchcraft, incest, treason and execution for Anne and for her brother George who was accused of incest with her, Mary's story ends happily and the girl who married for love inherits the entire Boleyn fortune and goes on to be a beloved wife and a great landowner whose children would be powerful politicians and courtiers at the court of their cousin, another unlikely lucky girl - Elizabeth.

When i first came across the story of Mary it was in footnotes and asides in history books. Historians knew of her, but no-one had considered what a remarkable woman she must have been and what an extraordinary life she led. I remember keeping her very much to myself, absolutely determined not to talk of her before I had the full story and was able to write a novel to do her justice. Her story is an absolute gift to an historical novelist and I am still incredibly thankful to have found it and to have had a chance to look back through time and get an idea of a woman who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe, and made her own way.

Customer Reviews

Good book.....but
...I wish I hadn't been given the newest edition with the movie cover. I couldn't get the image of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson out of my mind when reading The Other Boleyn Girl and it took the edge off things a bit because they were nothing like I wanted to 'see' them in my mind.

That aside.....The story is a fascinating one and Ms Gregory has breathed life into all the characters for me. It's made me hungry for more. I've trawled the web these last couple of days reading everything I can find on the Tudors. My existing knowledge of Henry VIII was limited to schoolgirl history and I only wish I'd had this book, back in the day when History was on my timetable. You know it's a good book when you seek out any little bit of info on the web that relates to the story you've just read.

I'm really amazed though, at the negative reviews here, which site 'inaccuracy' as the reason to give 1 or 2 stars. It's a work of fiction. The characters were real people, but Historical Fiction is just that - Fiction in an Historical setting.

I can't believe people are saying it's a terrible book because it's not 100% accurate. It's fiction. If anyone is looking for 100% Historical accuracy, perhaps a work of non-fiction would suit better?

As a work of fiction, it's a good book.

My only advice is.......don't buy the movie cover edition if you can help it. Unless Ms Portman and Ms Johannson are your exact idea of Mary and Anne Boleyn.

The Other Boleyn Girl...
I have put off reading this book for some time, it was rated so highly that I thought I would be disappointed, how wrong I was!

This is a fantastic novel written through the eyes of Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary. You see here whether fact or not how nasty Anne was to her sister and to pretty much everyone around her!

The bitter rivalry between the 2 sisters is so evident and although many have said there are many historical inaccuracies here I do believe there is a lot of truth in this novel. Some of it shocking even amusing in places.

I missed the showing of this on mainstream TV and it was acclaimed highly I would certainly love to watch it.

This is just the 2nd of Philippa Gregory's novels I have read, she is a fabulous author. I loved this novel from start to finish, she really transported you back in time to the court of Henry VIII.

Fabulous!

Read it for what it is - a really, really good story.
I'm giving The Other Boleyn Girl five stars because it's the first time for probably years, that I'm going around telling everyone I talk to how much I love this book. For the first time in ages, I became totally immersed and didn't skim a single page.

As for the criticisms about historical accuracy which it has received, I would just say that it is not claiming to be a historical biography or an investigation into the Reformation, but a tale spun between the historical events which took place. I understood it not as Philippa Gregory saying "This is what happened", but rather, "This is a story which could have filled these gaps - enjoy.". I enjoyed the characterisation of the Boleyns; it all went to create a very compelling story. Mary's love story post-Henry is particularly touching and I liked the fact that, although billed as "two sisters competing for the love of a king", the novel went beyond that and into the adult lives of the protagonists.

Perhaps a little off-topic, I'm also pretty taken aback that some reviewers are stating that the real Mary Boleyn was 'promiscuous' from a very early age. The one thing that stood out in the book to me was the culture of very, very young 'women' being traded between men at court, whether for marriage or just sex; I hardly think a (pre-)adolescent girl could have said 'no' to a king. Also, I disagree with the opinion that Mary was the 'weak' sister in this novel, and Anne the 'strong' one. One desperately hitching her fortunes to the whims of a man for no real motive but a lust for power, and one finding the courage to break away and be her own woman, finding strength in owning and managing her own land? I know which I think is the better "role model" (for want of a better term). And yes, perhaps the real Boleyn sisters were not like their fictional counterparts. It shouldn't really bother the reader unless they have just published a PhD of "Anne Boleyn: Feminist Icon".

Anyway, for the first time since primary school, I've actually begun to be be interested in Tudor history, so there's a point for the historians, I suppose!