The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

[samiambooks]

Book Title: The Boleyn Inheritance
Author: Philippa Gregory
Genre: Historical Fiction
My Grade: B
# of Pages: 516

Summary: ANNE OF CLEVESShe runs from her tiny country, her hateful mother, and her abusive brother to a throne whose last three occupants are dead. King Henry VIII, her new husband, instantly dislikes her. Without friends, family,

Comments

[sleepygrl25]

I just happened on this through a community. i love Gregory's books, but I agree with her portrayal of Katherine Howard. She wrote in an author's note that she wanted to get away from the image that one was dumb and one was ugly, and while she completely glorified Anne of Cleves, she really put Katherine in a bad light.
Have you read Abundance? It's a novel about the life of Marie Antoinette, the author's name is completely escaping me. It's a really worthwhile read, I would highly recommend it.

[samiambooks]

I haven't read Abundance... but I'm related to a librarian and am pretty good at internet hunting so I'm sure I'll be able to track it down. I may have to add it to my list... which is always growing, lol. Thanks for the rec.

[another_masque]

I'm not familiar with the author but I know I've heard some titles floating around. It sounds interesting. Is this a followup book? Should I start with the Other Boleyn Girl and work my way through, or does this stand alone?

thanks!

[samiambooks]

For the most part these books can be read as standalones, but the way she's written them it's a little easier to understand them if you read them in the order she wrote them:

The Other Boleyn Girl
The Queen's Fool
The Virgin's Lover
The Constant Princess and
The Boleyn Inheritance

You can also read them in the order of the timeline which off the top of my head I couldn't tell you what that was. But with the way she introduces characters and subject matter it'll be a bit easier to read them in the order above.

[coffeewithclio]

The timeline order is

The Constant Princess
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Boleyn Inheritance
The Queen's Fool
The Virgin's Lover

This is completely out of order of how she wrote them and because I'm a history major, I would argue that the books make more sense in this order even though each book easily stands alone!

As for Katherine, she is written as a very two dimensional character, but I think Gregory was trying to portray Katherine's youth.. she's a young, silly, innocent girl playing in a grown up world who doesn't fully grasp the inner workings of the court... I dont think Gregory meant for her to be dumb so much as naive and young focused on teenager things. I admit she seemed a bit insipid at times but that only enhanced her naivety for me and played a beautiful contrast to the dark and complex setting.

[samiambooks]

Thanks for the timeline! It was The Queen's Fool that threw me. And you're very right about the way she wrote Katherine, but I guess where in contrast to the court it enhanced her naivety in your opinion, I felt that it made it even worse... but to each his own. I can definitely see where you're coming from.

[sunni_sideup]

Katherine Howard is often seen in history as a stereotypical flighty, naive, and pretty stupid girl. The truth is that she was just in over her head, without a good sense of the constantly changing winds of the Tudor court. She had two rather scandalous affairs before she was eighteen, and she seemed not to understand the consequences of similar affairs while she was married to the King.

It doesn't surprise me that Ms. Gregory chose favorites among her characters. I tried to read The Other Boleyn Girl and just couldn't finish it. I didn't like the way she portrayed the Boleyn characters, and lots of inaccuracies annoyed me. I *am* tempted to try another book of hers... perhaps The Constant Princess... because her writing style is nice. It's just the details and characterizations that give me fits.