The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory's most popular novel is probably The Other Boleyn Girl (made into a movie with ScarJo and Natalie Portman). This novel is the sequel (in historical time) to the story that left us with Henry VIII's beheading of George and Anne Boleyn. The Boleyn Inheritance is told from the first-person perspective of three very different women. The first is Jane Rochford, the jealous wife whose testimony sent her husband (George) and sister-in-law (Anne) to their death. She is desperate to recreate a name for herself, knowing that the king's whimsical decisions leave no one safe. The second is Anne of Cleves, mistreated by her own family, and sent to a foreign land where she does not speak the language, to become the next Queen of England. And finally, Katherine Howard, a flirtatious and foolish 15-year old, who yearns desperately for fancy gowns and the attention of young handsome suitors. All three women find themselves at the court of the much aged, fat, and cantakerous king - trying desperately in their own ways to keep him happy and to keep themselves off the chopping block. I was immediately enraptured by this story - taken in by Jane, despite her past; hoping the best for Anne, despite her homely nature; and irritated by Katherine, despite her obvious naivete. This is a story about each woman, but in the end, it is the nightmare of a country ruled by a tyrant, and the history of women and their search, however futile, for a semblance of freedom.