Tuesday 9 September 2014

The Boleyn Inheritance


After watching ‘The other Boleyn Girl’, my interest for the Boleyn family has always been an awe-inspiring topic I constantly seek to learn more about, so its not surprising that I chose ‘The Boleyn Inheritance’. Although audiences may presume that this book solely focuses on the cliché and infamous relationship between Henry and Anne, it is not. This story revolves around three determined women who share one fate: Jane Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves.

This book really did steal my attention from other fictional Tudor stories because unlike others, it unfolded all three women’s stories with their own point of view, especially Jane Rochford - commonly known as Jane Boleyn. The most intriguing part was to observe what Jane’s side of the story was and how she repeats her past years by instigating and scheming her way in the Tudor court and attempting to get her kinswoman (Katherine) upon the throne just to benefit herself.

Now turning the spotlight on Katherine, it wasn’t a wonder to me when I realized that she was all part of a plot to ascend the Queen’s throne by her uncle. The audience will emphasize with Katherine the most out of the three as she marries the 50 year old king and suffers the consequences of her adultery later on. Nevertheless, I genuinely disliked the way Gregory painted her in an egoistic manner and I know this book is not a hundred percent accurate but coming onto the throne at the age of fourteen is stretching it a bit to be honest…...
Anne in my judgment was somewhat of a 2D character as she had a mediocre role and not enough background history of herself and above everything, Gregory endlessly depicted her as a woman without any faults as the story progressed. 

But all in all, this is an inspiring read for its entertainment reasons and the way that Gregory uses three women’s voices to illustrate how their lives had been within the Tudor court, truly does amaze me.

UH

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