Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Philippa Gregory: The Boleyn Inheritance


The stories of Lady Jane Rochford, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard are told in Philippa Gregory’s latest tale of the Tudor court, The Boleyn Inheritance.

Anne of Cleves is Henry’s Bavarian born fourth wife, Catherine Howard, an English teenager that catches Henry’s eye, is his fifth wife, and Jane Boleyn (Lady Rochford) is a lady of Henry’s court whose testimony sent her husband and her sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn, to the scaffold just a few years before.

These three women’s lives are bound together as they all try to survive in a court that is ruled by a man who changes his mind almost by the hour. The novel is full of court intrigue and politics told from each of the three women’s point of view. The change in narrators will keep readers interested in the plight of each woman, even though most will already know the story of who was divorced, beheaded, or survived.

Philippa Gregory is a fantastic writer of historical fiction. If you are a stickler for reading historical fiction in order by time period/chain of events, then read her Tudor novels in this order:

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

The first one of Gregory's that I read was The Other Boleyn Girl. It is a great introduction to her writing style- lots of historical detail, politics, and some romance thrown in for good measure. Another favoite is The Virgin's Lover because I love anything about Elizabeth I. Check out her website at http://www.philippagregory.com/

2 comments:

ayacat said...

going by the dates in the books, I'd say that the Boleyn Inheritance comes before the Queen's Fool....

ayacat said...

going by the dates in the books, I'd say that the Boleyn Inheritance comes before the Queen's Fool....