arianej's Full Review: Philippa Gregory - The Other Boleyn Girl
Since I love reading about Tudor era history, I often pick up historical fiction that on that time period, too. On my reading list for a while was Phillipa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. This novel tells the story from the point of view of Mary Boleyn, sister to the infamous Anne, who was queen to Henry VIII and the first of his wives to lose her head.
The Story
Mary Boleyn is in her teens and not long married to William Carey when she catches the eye of a king. That king is none other than Henry VIII, who is gradually becoming disenchanted with his aging wife Catherine of Aragon. Young and malleable, Mary is used as a pawn by her family, the powerful Boleyns and Howards, who see an opportunity for the family to rise in favor and fortune. Soon, they see an even greater opportunity... Queen Catherine has been unable to bear the king an heir, and Henry grows ever more impatient. If Mary could bear him a male child, then who knows how high her family's star could rise?
But Mary lacks the guile and ambition to succeed at court, even though she loves the king. Before long, it is her older sister Anne who is the toast of the court with her dark beauty, charm and seductive glances. It is Anne who has the cold ambition to capture the heart of a king, not just as his mistress, but with an eye on Queen Catherine's crown...
The Good Stuff
Philippa Gregory's other books like Wideacre, Meridon and The Favored Child are similar to this one in that they're good tales, usually centered around young women, mixed up with a dash of romance/lust. The story of the Boleyns and Henry VIII is a good choice of subject matter for her, and she handles it tolerably well.
Mary, of whom we know much less about than her sister, is portrayed as a very likeable, if somewhat naive girl. She lacks the backbone and fire of her sister Anne, but tries to be obedient to her family's wishes-- even though it goes against her better judgement at times and tears her between them and her loyalty to Queen Catherine. As the story progresses, she does grow a bit more court savvy, as would be expected of a woman who was mistress to the king and married twice--once to William Carey, and the second time in a love match that created a scandal when her secret became known.
Gregory's portrayal of Anne may not be all that far off the mark. History reveals her to be a complex sort of woman...ambitious, to be sure, and one who knew how to ply her charms to their best advantage. As described in the novel, she did hold off Henry's amorous advances for quite some time (although history doesn't elaborate on how, and Gregory fills in the lusty details a bit) and pressured him to make her more than a mere mistress. In the end, she won... sort of. Although unpopular in many circles, she did become Henry's queen, and the novel covers her rise to power as well as her eventual fall amid accusations of treason, adultery, and even incest with her brother George.
Gregory does a great job of showing how both Boleyn sisters could've been pitted against one another, one in the spotlight while the other was in shadow, or "the other Boleyn girl". She also does a great job of describing the various power factions at court that's not always obvious to readers--the Howards/Boleyns being one such powerful family, the Seymours another, etc. each with their own agenda...and their own lovely candidate to catch the eye of the king. Scattered throughout the book are lots of great details of dress, what and how people ate, courtly rituals and customs, as well as a great deal about what was expected of a girl in Mary's position. The author does all this quite skillfully, without beating you over the head with lectures and dull description.
Historical Inaccuracies?
It's really hard to say what's a mistake and what isn't in a book like this, and especially tricky because historians know relatively little about Mary Boleyn's life. Even something so basic as birthdates aren't always agreed upon for either Mary or her famous sister. Some say Mary was the older, some say Anne was. Sources can't always agree as to when each girl was born, some citing 1501, 1502, or most recently, 1507 as Anne's birthdate and 1500, 1504 or 1508 for Mary's birthdate. Depending on which is the true date, you can see this allows for a great deal of room to manuever when it comes to writing a fictionalized account. That's partly why Mary's story is a great topic, there's so much left unexplored and unaccounted for that she's almost a blank slate.
But generally, Mary is thought to be the older sister, unlike Gregory's account. Depending on when she was born, she may have been married in her early teens to William Carey, which wouldn't have been entirely unusual but would've probably meant no consummation of the marriage for several years. The author doesn't go much into Mary's upbringing at the French court, but history suggests she wasn't exactly chaste. Francis I is recorded as referring crudely to Mary as his "English mare", while a papal representative called her "a very great and infamous wh*re". This certainly suggests that Mary was a bit of a good-time girl, not exactly the young innocent that Gregory makes her out to be.
Another place where liberties may have been taken was the issue of Mary and Anne's brother George and the issue of homosexuality/incest. This was probably derived from Retha M. Warnicke's book, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn, and refers to a theory I don't really see held by many historians. It seems highly improbable to me that Anne and George would be involved in incest, and it sounds more likely that it was a fabrication by Anne's enemies at court-- of whom there were many. I thought Gregory laid it on a bit thick about the possible sexual attraction between Anne and her brother, particularly toward the end.
Still, I suppose it makes for a colorful story, although I don't necessarily think the truth needed much embellishment to make it an exciting tale. I do tend to be a bit more forgiving of historical fiction because it's...well...fiction. Gregory didn't get too insanely outrageous in depicting things and people they way she did, and the story was entertaining enough to keep me turning the pages.
Recommendations
You don't have to be familiar with Tudor history to read this book and enjoy it, but I always think it helps. I like knowing some background so I can more easily distinguish between fact and fiction, especially since many writers take at least some freedoms with historical fact when writing novels. Gregory's book is a fun, albeit somewhat fluffy read, and she does include some factual tidbits, but it'd be a mistake to take her version of it as the truth. If you like historical fiction with a touch of romance (love scenes themselves weren't explicit, although there was some heavier sexual content alluded to), give this book a try.
Other book recommendations that people might like about the Tudors are Margaret George's fiction novel, The Autobiography of Henry VIII, which has a much fuller, more fascinating characterizations of Henry VIII, and Rosalind Miles' novel I, Elizabeth about Anne Boleyn's daughter. Non-fiction works on this subject include Carolly Erickson's Mistress Anne, and Alison Weir's The Wives of Henry VIII, The Children of Henry VIII, and Henry VIII: The King and his Court.
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king. When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye...More at HotBookSale
Gregory s first installment of her New York Times bestselling series ow the basis is n feature film from Sony Pictures, starring Eric Bana, Scarlett J...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Hot on the heels of the release of her new title The Other Queen, The Other Boleyn Girl, the first in Gregory s bestselling Tudor series, is now avail...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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