The Boleyn Inheritance: A Novel (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels Book 5) by Philippa Gregory (Epub)

Description

From “the queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) comes this New York Times bestseller featuring three very different women whose fates are each bound by a bloody curse: the legacy of the Boleyn family.

After the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour, King Henry VIII of England decides to take a new wife, but this time, not for love. The Boleyn Inheritance follows three women whose lives are forever changed because of the king’s decision, as they must balance precariously in an already shaky Tudor Court.

Anne of Cleves is to be married to Henry to form a political alliance, though the rocky relationship she has to the king does not bode well for her or for England.

Katherine Howard is the young, beautiful woman who captures Henry’s eye, even though he is set to marry Anne. Her spirit runs free and her passions run hot—though her affections may not be returned upon the King.

Jane Rochford was married to George Boleyn, and it was her testimony that sent her husband and infamous sister-in-law Anne to their deaths. Throughout the country, her name is known for malice, jealousy, and twisted lust.

The Boleyn Inheritance is a novel drawn tight as a lute string about three women whose positions brought them wealth, admirations, and power, as well as deceit, betrayal, and terror.

User’s Reviews

Review “Fascinating…harrowing….If only…history books were written so vividly.” — Entertainment Weekly “The queen of royal fiction.” — USA Today

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ When it comes to historical fiction, I do think the most fascinating time period is the reign of King Henry VIII during the first half of the 16th century. Why? It was such a soap opera! Everything was done to excess—eating, drinking, gossiping, playing and most of all extraordinarily bad behavior. This book, part of the Plantagenet and Tudor Novels series by Philippa Gregory, tells the story of the fourth and fifth wives of old King Henry.No. 4 was Anne of Cleaves, the only one of his six wives to escape the marriage with her life intact. Henry despised her for many reasons, and only months after what he quickly considered a sham marriage, he caught the eye of 15-year-old Katherine Howard, portrayed in this book as a ditzy, greedy, vain and vapid little girl.While this fictional story that is faithful to the historical facts may read like a soap opera in the extreme, Philippa Gregory has written this book with a touch of literary genius. Each chapter is told in the first person by one of three people: Anne of Cleaves, Katherine Howard or Jane Boleyn, who served both Anne and Katherine as a lady-in-waiting and was the sister-in-law of the doomed Anne Boleyn. Gregory so deftly and vividly distinguishes each of these three women’s personalities and voices that chapter titles are almost not needed. Read a few sentences, and you will know who is the narrator. It is an extraordinary writing feat that adds abundant richness to an already gripping narrative. And face it, that’s tough to do when anyone who studied European history in high school already knows the tragic, gruesome and terror-filled ending.A valuable lesson to learn from this period of history: King Henry VIII may have received the crown humbly in 1509, but he turned into a tyrannical monarch who assumed he had the right to absolute power. He truly believed that whatever he did, no matter how horrific, violent or cruel, was the will of God. There were no checks and balances on his power. To silence his enemies, he killed them—thousands and thousands of them. He stole. He lied (a lot). He was duplicitous. He terrified an entire country. He proved that absolute power absolutely corrupts.

⭐ I don’t know whatever possessed Philippa Gregory and her publishers to re-make the original audiobook, which was darn near perfect. Each narrator was perfection–especially Charlotte Parry’s Catherine. She captured the essence of the empty-headed, selfish, yet somehow sweet teenage Catherine. Davina Porter’s interpretation of the bitter, duplicitous Jane Boleyn is spot-on, and Bianca Amato’s interpretation of naive,sad, yet ultimately triumphant Anne was perfect. So unlike the rote, rapid delivery from all three of the narrators of the new version. I don’t even know who is reading what part, but it doesn’t really matter. They all sound the same, and their delivery was so fast that I had a hard time keeping up with them. I checked on Amazon and it doesn’t appear that the superior, 2006 version is even available on Amazon anymore. A pity. I’m so mad that my curiosity got the better of me and I wasted my free monthly download on this mediocre mess. The book itself it good, so, if you can’t find the superior, earlier version, do yourself a favor and skip the audiobook. Read the Kindle or paperback version instead.

⭐ This novel takes place in the latter part of King Henry the Eighth’s reign. Henry is sick-both physically and mentally-and has become a horrifying tyrant. His beloved queen, Jane Seymour, has been dead for two years, and he is preparing to make an important political marriage. Three women enter this setting; and the novel is narrated in turn by all of them. One is the quiet, intelligent Anne of Cleve’s, who comes to England to marry the king. Another is Catherine Howard, a lively, sensual teenager who loves a boy her own age-but ends up catching the king’s eye. Last of all is Jane Boleyn,the skilled courtier and maid of honor- whose testimony helped send her husband to the scaffold. This rich, absorbing novel is one of Ms Gregory’s best, because she literally gives each woman her own voice. The writing style changes as each one speaks, so that the reading experience becomes more personal: you feel as if you KNOW these ladies, and this feeling leads you to care about them. I highly recommend this book.

⭐ Once again Gregory has managed to inject flesh and blood into her written words. The characters take on a life of their own under her pen and even though I have heard stories and watched movies of Henry VIII and his wives, this author makes their lives and times new and memorable. This book, along with others in this series, kept me up at night wanting to know what was next in the saga of HenryVIII as he sinks into madness and takes an assortment of women with him. It’s the original game of thrones filled with intrigue and greed. They all know what the king is capable of after the beheading of Ann Boleyn, but they follow in her footsteps thinking they are too cleaver to be caught.

⭐ This book makes a good follow-up to the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl,” which I saw just before I read this book. The book is told from the perspectives of three women: Jane Boleyn (she refers to Anne as her “sister,” which is confusing because she was her sister-in-law), Anne of Cleves and young Katherine Howard. The book’s biggest flaw is that it was somewhat tedious to read Katherine’s entries, with so much greedy focus on her possessions.It was interesting to read about an era vastly different from our own. Back then, a 50 year old was considered of “great age” (elderly) and impotence was often blamed on a curse, witch’s spell or “ill-wishing.”Court life was of course very interesting. Everyone around Henry was in danger – “The fire of the king’s displeasure can burn up anyone”.- “kinship with the king gives no immunity from fear, friendship with the king gives no safety.” There was also no shortage of enemies within the court – “Everyone is always our enemy, but right now we are winning.” Women were just pawns in the game.Philippa Gregory writes well and describes things in an interesting way, for example “Katherine holds his attention like a dancing mayfly holds the attention of the fat, gaping carp.” The book’s title is clever and explained towards the end of the book.

⭐ I’ve become a great fan of Phillipa Gregory, who has written many books about the Tudor dynasty in England in the 1500’s. This book is written from the viewpoints of 3 women: Jane Boleyn, whose testimony at her husband’s trial led to his beheading (along with Ann Boleyn, his sister). She is a Lady-in-Waiting to many Queens, who were wives of Henry VIII; Anne of Cleves, Henry’s 4th wife, who fortunately made it out of her marriage alive; and Katherine Howard, Henry’s very young 5th wife, who was beheaded. What I really liked is her view of Henry VIII, who I always believed was a terrible King, murderer, vain, selfish, and paranoid monster. He killed more people than any other King. Ms. Gregory explains some reasons why. Ms Gregory writes facts surrounded by fiction and makes these 1500’s people into human beings, even though much of what she writes comes from her great imagination. Since reading this book, I bought several more of her books, all from Amazon of course.

⭐ I love history, and imagining the lives of all those who lived and breathed before our own time. I’ve studied quite a bit of the Tudor era, and I like how Philippa Gregory takes historical fact and adds her own suggestions as to the motives of these historical figures. I like the personalization and the human element she puts on these very real people. My only critiques on The Boleyn Inheritance was that “the Boleyn Inheritance” was a phrase far too often repeated. It became redundant after awhile. I also felt that poor Katherine Howard was depicted as a bit too idiotic. Historically, she was a not very educated child; raised in a home with very little guidance and nurturing, this is true. However, she was just a child. A teenager could never hold a candle to the grace and intellect of Catherine of Aragon, or the wit and cosmopolitan air of Anne Boleyn. I thought it a bit unfair to depict her as such a total shallow idiot. Aside from these, I enjoyed this book very much.

⭐ I read this right about The Other Boleyn Girl, and was so torn. I was wrapped up in The Other Boelyn Girl so much that I had to read this next book, and was let down. This book is broken up into Chapters that switch back and forth between the women of the court instead of intermingling them within the story. I honestly caught myself having trouble remembering the last Chapter about Jane Boleyn as I was reading her follow up chapter 5 chapters later. The flow was very broken in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I do love what the story is about and if you can handle this type of writing style then you will love the book. I just found myself struggling to keep picking it back up every night, when The Other Boelyn Girl could not be put down.

⭐ I love reading about Tudor England and thankfully, this book didn’t disappoint! I’m always fascinated by how people lived in these times and learning about the court is very interesting. I would have to say that Anne of Cleves has been one of my favorite characters in these books (along with Mary Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl). Anne seems so innocent and really wanted to make a new life in England with the King. I loved that she wasn’t necessarily as concerned about becoming Queen for the power, but more to get away from the life she lived with her family in Cleves. All she wants is to have some freedom, which for women now isn’t too much to ask for, but it certainly was back then.Katherine Howard… she is definitely portrayed as a stupid, young girl. She was somewhat entertaining, but so naive and ignorant. And Jane Rochford… well… she drove me crazy. At first I liked her and thought she was going to help out Queen Anne of Cleves. But then, once again, she just looks out for herself and seems to be willing to throw anyone under the bus as long as she is safe.Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I was never bored and there is always something happening. I also love that it’s told from different perspectives. I think, as readers, we would have lost a lot of the story if it were only told from one woman’s view. Can’t wait to read the next one in the series!Pagesofcomfort.blogspot.com

⭐ Most of history gets lost in fog like some stellar nebula but Philippa Gregory manages to focus her telescope so the distant events have meaning. The Boleyn Inheritance is part of a series but this book divines the insular nature of Henry’s court to simplify the cast of characters. Gregory uses the Boleyn Inheritance like a metaphorical ribbon to show how closely bound the noble families were and how their titles and property were subject to the whims of the king The view of the wives and x wives gives the ultimate inside story of maneuvering complete with the glamour and the stink and hopes and delusions. Henry is famous for severing heads of wives and severing England’s connection from Rome. Gregory makes the connections as if magnetically entwined noting cromwell’s beheading and Katherine’s marriage fell on same day. Even though the conflict with church stays in the background of this rich tapestry the reports of Anne, the cast off wife, give meaning to the arbitrary changes. The era comes into focus along with the machinations of the duke of Norfolk, the Henry’s struggles with families in the north like the Yorks and in the south with the Poles. This book shows the monarch in decline and possibly in throws of delusion trying to regain vitality of youth by switching women and policy even reinstating articles of faith as if time spent had purchased no maturity. In Boleyn inheritance Gregory clarifies the chaos of the Henry era to make the saga comprehensible and relevant to modern world.

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