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 of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her familys ambitious plots as the kings interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.
Philippa Gregory was born in Kenya. She is a former student of Sussex University and receive a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 of Edinburgh University, her love for history and her commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing.
Her other great interest is the charity she founded nearly twenty years ago; Gardens for The Gambia. Gregory lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire, where she keeps horses, hens and ducks.
The Other Boleyn Girl is one of the most popular historical fiction books about the Boleyn ladies out there I guess. It was a book I have heard about for years already but never picked up. This time I decided I would give it a go as it fits in both my Bingo reading challenge and my big books reading challenge. After finishing The Constant Princess two months ago I was pretty sure I was going to like this book due to the writing style. Philippa Gregory is a master in setting atmosphere. I really got the feeling I was sitting in a window in the castle seeing all those people pass me. Like a little spy. With the characters I had more problems. Though getting angry and upset with characters does mean I am involved it often makes me dislike a book a bit more. First thing that disturbed me is the way Mary was set up to become lovers with the king. Second .. that uncle.. I could have killed him, would have killed him and after the way Anne took over everything and how history repeats. Though I do know this is fiction it is based on partly true stories I had a hard time to convince myself that this behavior was probably normal or accepted up to a certain level in that period. Due to that annoyance the book took me a bit longer to read than I had expected.
The Other Boleyn Girl
Author: Philippa Gregory
Publisher: Touchstone
ISBN-10: 0743233085
ISBN-13: 9780743233088
Pages:672
Format: eBook
Series: The Tudor Court #2
Touchstone: eBook | Hardcover | Paperback
1 reacties:
Write reactiesHonest review! I want to read this one, but I also get emotionally involved with the characters sometimes. Maybe I will feel the same way when I read this :)
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