I wouldn't want this Inheritance... (The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory)

Member Name: Gemma_C

Product:	The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory
Date:	23/07/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A brilliant read that's also historically correct.

Disadvantages: It had to end!

The Boleyn Inheritance is set after The Other Boleyn Girl, Queen Jane is dead and the King is looking for his new wife, and so we meet Lady Anne of Cleves. The book however isn't only through the eyes of Anne and it switches between a young Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Rochford the sister-in-law in Anne Boleyn, the be-headed Queen.

The book begins with Anne of Cleves having her potrait painted along with her sister, and she strongly wishes to be the next Queen of England. We meet Lady Jane Rochford living a boring life in the country and longing for a request to go back to court to be a lady in waiting to the new Queen. Katherine Howard is at Lambeth living with her step Grandmother, and at only 15 is already worrying of becoming old and dreaming of riches.

Anne of Cleves is of course chosen by King Henry to become the new Queen of England and so she begins her procession from Germany to London. She is overwhelmed by all the attention she gets, especially as she arrives at Calais and mainland England, and people doubt whether she is good enough to be Queen.

Lady Jane has been summoned to court by her Uncle to be the lady in waiting for Queen Anne, and to become close to her. Haunted by the memories of her deceased husband George Boleyn and sister-in-law Anne Boleyn she once again becomes close to the Queen of England.
Katherine Howard is also summouned to court by her Uncle, making her very excited, and it's noy long before the young Katherine draw's Henry's attention...

As history goes, Henry ends up having his marriage to Anne annulled however she becomes the first Queen to not end up dead and he actually makes her second to the Queen and declares her as a sister to him.
Katherine Howard becomes a very young Queen of England, however King Henry is old enough to be her grandfather and has become extremely large, and not to exclude his old leg wound which stinks, so it seems inevitable that 16 year old Katherine will catch the eye of the young men courtiers.

Gregory has followed on from The Boleyn Girl beautifully and yet again sticks to historical fact in every place. Of course it is fiction, however I am very pleased by how she always sticks to facts when it comes to the main points.
I really enjoyed how this time we saw it through the eyes of 3 different women at court and all 3 sounded very different and had completely different characters. Anne of Cleves is more elegant and sophisticated, Katherine Howard is young and vain, and Lady Jane is troubled with haunting memories which follow her everywhere around court. Gregory did a brilliant job at imagining what went through the minds of these 3 women and has based these thoughts on the knowledge she has through research.

There was never a dull moment in this book for me, Gregory keeps this flowing along nicely and each new chapter comes from the mind of someone else, and whilst the chapters aren't long at all, it continues with a good pace. It's clear to see just how mad King Henry is becoming, the religious changes of the time often mentioned in the book along with the amount of people who has executed for treason. People are scared of him at court and he constantly seems to be in an angry mood, no thanks to his leg wound which always troubles him.

In all this is a very enjoyable read and if you liked The Other Boleyn Girl you will certainly enjoy this one just as much. I couldn't put it down and read it in a few days.

Summary: A brilliant book that follows Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard as Queens.