Book Review: The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl

by Philippa Gregory

This book is the fictionalization of Anne Boleyn’s rise to Queen of England during the 1500s from her sister, Mary Boleyn’s point of view (although two scenes sneak in there from Anne’s point of view). You can tell that the author did a great deal of research and is knowledgeable in terms of the costumes, customs, mannerisms and even moods/dispositions of the various members that play out their roles in the rise (and fall) of the Boleyn family. Although I’m uncertain whether Mary would be sincerely bothered by the role and lack of rights women had during that era, it allowed me to like Mary in a way that I could not like her power hungry sister, Anne.

Despite the details to things like costume and setting, I was a little disappointed by the mistakes in the book. And I don’t mean historical mistakes–I give the author pure artistic license in those regards. What I mean are things like under the heading of Spring 1536, I expect it to be spring and not January. I’m fairly certain that the seasons have not changed since the 1500s and that January was considered winter, as it is now. Generally, I don’t often notice mistakes like those when I am reading a piece for entertainment, but it got to the point where I began to expect errors such as on the last page. In this case, Mary waits for her children to fall asleep on the boat before talking to her husband. When he replies seconds later, the children are awake and leaning over the bow. My guess is that the editors and author were in a rush to get the story out and small details were missed, particularly if they were last minute add-ins.

Otherwise, it was a good story with an interesting insight into history–it made me do a little research just to see how close she was to the truth and I’ll admit, I did research the odd spoiler. Doh! Either way, a book that expands my interest and knowledge is always welcome, especially when done in an entertaining manner.

If you like this book, you may also like The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson. It’s another good one. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that it was a fictional piece. (I had to do that with Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible as well–although that one isn’t historical fiction like the above two mentions are.)

Enjoy!