The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...but which bring to life the era and the personalities vividly. I did not expect the definitive biography of Anne and Mary Boleyn by any stretch of the imagination. What I did expect though was at least an attempt at treating the characters with a modicum of respect and remaining true as far as possible to what we know about them, as well as a gripping and enjoyable story. TOBG provided neither. This author claims to be a "feminist historian." From ...
...challenge views of women from the past bearing in mind the traditional prejudices against women. In this sense I am proud to be writing a modern history of women." However, there is nothing "feminist" about the portrayal of the women here, in fact I think it's highly misogynist: Mary and Anne are reduced to one-dimensional representatives of the "Madonna/whore" stereotype, with Mary being the ultimate Mary Sue, embodiment of all that is pure and ...

msdrusilla 01.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...enough of. Having already read the Queens Fool, set in the time of Edwards reign, lets step back in time slightly to when Eddies father was head bigwig, and just beginning his famous reign as the Elizabeth Taylor of Tudor times. This is the other Boleyn Girl, the story of Anne Boleyn (who lost her head over the king) told from the point of view of her sister Mary. The Story Mary Boleyn is in her teens, and in the style of the day has already been ...
...Did I happen to mention the married man is none other than Henry V III, and the barren wife of course Catharine of Aragon. Mary being young and innocent, she is easily persuaded by her family to act as the kings’ whore in order to gain advantage, lands and money for the rest of her family. She is made to do everything the king desires in the bedchamber, and to request payment in the form of favours for her family. Her family, along with the extended ...

Thehonesttruth 29.01.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...is a rare moment. The moment I picked up this book I was hooked. I was taken into the world of Henry VIII and whisked into the life of Mary Boleyn. Phillippa Gregory's novel tells a tale of deceit, lust, adultery, and secrets and above all love. So what am I talking about? Well it is whom I am talking about really. Mary Boleyn was the younger sister of the famous Queen of England, Anne Boleyn who married Henry VIII after he had his marriage to Katherine ...
...before Anne was ever on the scene. She was moulded by the Howard/Boleyn family from a very young age to do anything to propel the family to a higher status. Married at the age of 11 to William Carey only to have this marriage put aside and become Henry's mistress from the tender age of 13. Gregory tells of the love that Mary felt for the king and of the two children she bore him, Katherine and Henry, before he moved on to her sister. You are taken ...

Flissy 26.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

== Buying The Book == I bought ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ at the same time as ‘The Boleyn Inheritance’, I got them from a book magazine that had them on offer. You can generally find them for between £4 and £7 each depending on where you look. Amazon for example has the same copy of the book as I have for £4.99 new, which in my opinion is a reasonable price for this particular book. == The Book == The Other Boleyn Girl is one in a series of books about ...
...the life of Mary Boleyn. Mary is Anne Boleyns younger sister, not much is known about her as the focus was always more on Anne than Mary. This book portrays Anne differently to how some other books portray her, she is shown through the eyes of a loving sister rather than the King or another onlooker. There are many twists and turns in the book, and parts where it is impossible to put down. Even though everyone knows how the book ends before even ...

buggsy2008 18.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

*NB* Apologies on the lack of originality with the title, but it's true. We've all heard of Anne, mother of Elizabeth I, seducer of Henry VIII, first wife to lose her head, he broke from Rome to be with her and founded the C of E...and so on and so forth. But Anne had a sister. Her name was Mary, and although at one point in time she was important, she soon became the "other" Boleyn girl. Hence, the title of the book and of my review. I recently ...
...(TQF) and enjoyed it to the point where I asked my mother to search for her other period novel, “The Other Boleyn Girl.” (OBG) She tracked down a copy at the British Council, and I eagerly devoured the book in the course of a bleak and rainy day. I must confess that I did not take to this book as much as I did TGF. I can’t really put my finger on an exact reason why, but instead of being endeared to the character of Mary Boleyn, I found myself being ...

mystikchick17 20.08.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...She died bravely, addressing the crowd, and asking Jesus to receive her soul. She was almost certainly innocent. Philippa Gregory’s 2001 novel, “The Other Boleyn Girl” takes us into Anne’s world via her sister, rival and friend, Mary. Winner of the Parker Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2002, this romanticised account of Anne’s life, from her return from the French court to her death, takes a broad framework of historical fact and weaves a fiction ...
...even agree whether she was the older or younger sister, although she was certainly Henry VIII’s mistress before her ambitious, ruthless family set her aside for the unmarried Anne to take her place as his favourite. She was probably born in around 1508 (Anne’s date of birth is generally considered to be around 1506, and their brother George’s around 1503). Mary was married to William Carey, a courtier, when she was only 12 years old, and a Lady in ...

Zoe_South 10.11.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...part of a 3 for the price of 2 deal at Waterstone's, when I'd run out of new books. It turned out to be a lot better than I'd anticipated, even better than the other two books I'd deliberately intended to buy! First impressions: the book has a lovely, detailed embossed front cover (my edition anyway - the film version). It's also pretty hefty, which I take as a good sign - it'll keep me going for a while - but might put others off as it is several ...
...the style irritated me somewhat, perhaps because it was initially very American sounding and there's extensive use of the present tense which I'm not particularly keen on in novels. However, I soon got into it and eventually even ended up liking the tone. It definitely grew on me. I wouldn't even know where to begin writing an historical novel with so much detail. Gregory must have done masses amounts of research, and it was very difficult to tell ...

jennikitten 28.05.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...Philippa Gregory's historic novels and The Other Boleyn Girl was the one which initially caught my eye (I love Tudor history, especially Anne Boleyn/Elizabeth) and, like the others I have read, was interesting and entertaining, offering an insight into life at the Tudor court (or, to be more accurate, an imagined insight based on real information). The only problem I have with Gregory's novels is that they rely heavily upon 'gossip' and rumours surrounding ...
...without questioning this vilification, accepting the whole cliched 'Anne Boleyn as a scheming harlot' situation. It's not that I claim to know any better, it's just that I refuse to beleive that any actual person could be so two-dimensional. Having said that, doubts aside, I really really enjoyed this book. When you learn history at school, they leave out all the juicy stuff - they taught us that Anne Boleyn was beheaded, but they left out all the ...

DoubleFantasy11 12.08.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

This was the first Phillippa Gregory book I bought - and I picked it up based on the cover alone. I hadn't read any historical novels before this but having been at school in the castle Katherine of Aragon spent her final years in, I was intrigued to find out more than my old History Teacher had imparted ! I must admit I hadn't even realised there was another sister until I read the sleeve of this book ~~~~~The Plot Mary Boleyn was the younger ...
...by her family to become the Kings lover from an early age in order to gain them political power. Anne had been sent away to the French court with relatives and so Mary was placed in Henry's court and schooled to catch his eye. She married at the age of 11 to William Carey, but this marriage was basically ignored in order to get her into the Kings bed at just 13 years old. Mary bore him two children and was happy in her life with Henry. However, Anne ...

trinity_bleu 18.07.2006 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...absolutely hooked and couldn't put the book down. Everyone has heard of Anne Boleyn, how Henry VIII broke away from Rome so that he could leave his wife Katherine and marry her and how most famously, she lost her head. This book however introduces us to Mary, Anne's younger sister. The Other Boleyn Girl is a story of rivalry between two very different sister, intrigue at the court, love, lust and jealousy. The Boleyn family is an influential ...
...to climb the ranks and become favourites. Mary is used as a pawn to achieve this. Despite being married, she catches the King's eye and the family devise plans to push her into his bed. By becoming his mistress and bearing him two children, she enables her family to receive gifts from the king. Gifts of land and tiles which they all aspire to. However, Mary is a young woman who yearns to be a mother and being separated from her children weighs ...

sevyg18 24.04.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

The story of 'The Other Boleyn Girl' is a fictional account based on historical fact of romantic relationship both Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary had with Henry VIII of England. One sees it from the perspective of Mary Boleyn and a story ensues of their courtship with the king, Anne's marriage and the trials and tribulations that develop from such turbulent courses of events. All in all, the book is wonderfully engaging and fits into the facts ...
...anyone with basic knowledge of the way this king treated women. It is with great amusement that one can discover he was killed by siphilus in the the end. The reader is given an insight into the concerns and strife of the noble Tudor lady that is very true to history, namely marriage and pregnancy and the patriarchal double standard and ridiculous expectations made upon women biologically. If one did not produce a male heir or indeed, had a stillbirth, ...

Renza 17.01.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...little something to fill in the time. I'm a great lover of history, especially the Tudor period, and so I tend not to like authors who completely rewrite history just to accommodate a good story. But as soon as I started reading this, I couldn't put it down. The main focus of the story is on Mary Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's mistresses. Not a lot is known about Mary, as the limelight is inevitably stolen by her younger sister Anne, who went on to ...
...intense rivalry between the two sisters for the love of the English King. Her vivid descriptions of 16th-century English court life take you into the very heart of the intrigues and scandals surrounding the throne. She conforms to popular opinion in her portrayal of the young Anne Boleyn, showing her as an ambitious and ruthless woman, who is determined to get her man. But towards the end when Anne's future looks bleak, she becomes a softer character, ...

brighter23days 27.10.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

...most pleasantly surprised. The book not only details the part of history that the education system seems to forget about, it details her rise to power, her unending ambition and determination, and her ruthlessness both as a mere girl and even more so as a queen. The book reveals th every intimacies of her life, from her point of return to the english court, from her jealousy at her sister mary being the kings favourite, to her doomed love affair ...
...then her fall. The books hints at a relationship more intimate than it should have been between anne and her brother George, whether this i sbased on fact i dont know, but it certainly helps you to remain enthralled in the book. There are not many books that can hold a reader so that they dare not put it down until they reach the end. Howver this book did just that to me. Whether the film will do this magnificant illustration of our history justice ...

lulabell87 06.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

This is one of the best books I have read in ages and I urge any fan of historical novels to read it. There should, strictly speaking, be no surprises since it's written down in history. Instead of focusing on Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn who was the subject of many books, it is a tale of her sister Mary Boleyn who was the King's mistress before. It follows the three Boleyns as they struggle through Court life together, with their ups and ...
...her words, we could imagine the busy, bustling court of the 1500s. Her description of the characters is subtle, her way of telling the plot is magnificent and she pays attention to such detail that you would think you are witnessing it right in front of your eyes instead of reading it from a book. I highly recommend it to any fictional fans. ...

sweetkisses4u 26.09.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

I could not put it down , a fantastic read i wanted to keep on reading even though i knew the story Philippa Gregory writes so well you want to absorb every thing she writes like a sponge . You really begain to feel that you were there . I have read a number of her books and have enjoyed them all so much , she really brings history to life. My teenage daughter is also enjoying reading her work and is finding it hard to put down . Well Done is all i can say and keep writing ...

gummybear2 30.07.2008
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory