The Other Boleyn Girl

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Philippa Gregory

The Other Boleyn girl is the story of Anne Boleyn and the untold fictional story of Mary Boleyn. Anne Boleyn is the second wife of King Henry VIII and mother to Queen Elizabeth I, England’s greatest queen. The story is told from Mary’s point of view. How she started as an innocent courtier in service of Queen Katherine. How she became the mistress of King Henry, because of her family’s ambitions. This was a time in England where they gambled and exchanged wives and mistresses like the women were mere commodities. Mary was then the favorite of the King. But with Anne’s charm, wit and talent the King was immediately besotted with her. When Mary was giving birth to her second child with the King, Anne entrapped him with her charms.

Once the King got tired of Mary, Anne was the new favorite. He doted on her like a king might dote upon a queen. Anne would not however allow the king to taint her virtue before marriage; this led to the king asking for permission from the Pope. When the pope would not accept such annulment, King Henry VIII decided to separate England from the ruling of the pope and establish the new Church of England. He was able to invalidate his first marriage and declare Anne as queen.
Mary on the other hand was a country girl by heart. In the beginning of the book when she was first sent to Hever Castle, she immediately loved the peace and quiet brought by the country. Mary’s children Catherine and Henry were both raised in Hever castle. Mary was allowed to visit her children only once a year, during summer. After the death of her first husband William Carrey, Mary fell in love with William Stafford. William was a commoner, and they married without her family knowing about it. When Queen Anne then found out, she banned Mary from court and separated her from her children.

Queen Anne after her coronation gave birth to princess Elizabeth (who will later be Queen Elizabeth I). Henry was not happy about another female child. He wanted a male heir to the throne. Thus there was a huge anxiety on Anne carrying a new child. When Anne missed her monthly courses, she pardoned Mary and allowed her to return to court with her husband. Queen Anne had her first miscarriage, a start of several that both Mary and George (their brother) would help keep in secret. Meanwhile the King’s attention was now wavering to another young lady in waiting, Jane Seymour. Like Anne herself, she knew that the only way to get the King’s favor was to bore him a son. It was the sort of implied in the book that George and Anne had sex in order to for Anne to produce an heir. This final miscarriage was seen in public. The baby was deformed, and thus an accused selling her soul to the devil and becoming a witch.

King Henry decided to set up a hidden trial on the crimes of George and Anne Boleyn. In the book, Mary was still in court, and she was able to escape questioning. George and Anne where both beheaded for treason, adultery and incest. Mary returned to her country home in Rochford and lived happily with her husband and children.

Reading the summary would be as good as just reading a historical summary of what really happened to Anny Boleyn and Mary Boleyn. The book just gave us a behind-the-scenes view on what was happening that was not seen by the public. How the politics and rise to power ruled over the lives of the Boleyns and Howards.
Anne Boleyn here was portrayed as a very ambitious and powerful queen. She never stopped being charming, witty and seductive. You would only see her feel tired and stressed out behind closed doors. Mary and George were the ever faithful supporters of the cause. The rise of Anne meant the rise of the Boleyn to power. Also shown is how Anne had to bear the King Henry a child, how she struggled with carrying the child and still please the King. The King was a huge spoilt fat child whose attention easily wavered.

Anne may have gotten her power from the King’s wavering idleness, but in the end, this became the cause of her demise and fall. It was fun to read about her selfishness and weakness at the same time. Also, the temper that she could not contain may have caused her all the miscarriages. It was difficult for her to rest while also looking at all the ladies in waiting trying to snatch away her king. And yet every day, was still as stunning and afforded to laugh at any jest. In the end, when the king found out that she was a barren woman who could not carry a child, he immediately ordered for her execution.

Although in the end, it is shown how Mary lived happily with her husband and family, it was sad to see Anne die. She didn’t even speak to Mary until the very end and it was sad that she was betrayed by the King about the annulment. But, the whole book seemed to really come together to this point. The punishment of Anne Boleyn for all the evil deeds she’s done throughout the book. She was never portrayed as nice, kind or endearing and yet she still got what she wanted. It’s as if the book showed that Anne’s rise and fall was justified.

I can’t believe I’ve actually finished reading this book. I swear, I felt like I was reading it forever. That’s what you get when you’ve spend money on books. You really really must read them now. This book is not the kind of book that I’d probably read again in the next decade or so. After my relief of finishing the book, I was of course sad. Like, other good books, this book had left a mark on me and got me interested in the English monarchy. The Tudor period in particular. Yes, later I am going to watch Elizabeth I, just after reading about her mother. Well, it also helped that Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana were on the cover of the book. I’m now wondering if the movie’ll be as good as the book?

Still... It was very good read! I was crying on the execution part! hehe