It's been years since I read an ebook and The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory has been on my Kindle App since 2016. This year I'm planning to read some bigger books from my backlist and coming in at 530 pages and waiting nine years, it was definitely time to read The Boleyn Inheritance.
Set in England during the reign of King Henry VIII, we're given first person narratives from Jane Boleyn (Lady Rochford, wife of George Boleyn and sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn), Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard.
Beginning in 1539, we meet Anne when she's the Duchess of Cleves. She's keen to escape her domineering brother and make the biggest match possible to become Queen of England. I really enjoyed this different perspective on Anne's life, her mindset and the way in which she navigated the challenges of coming to a land without knowing the language. Navigating the tricky court of Henry VIII was a real culture shock:
"Clearly, I will never be alone again for another moment in all my life." Page 59 Anne, Calais, December 1539Anne's first meeting with the King was a disaster - as we know - but I enjoyed Gregory's interpretation of the events which have since become legendary.
Meanwhile, Jane Boleyn has been away from court following the execution of her husband and sister-in-law for treason in 1536. Jane is ambitious and a social climber, as becomes clear early on in the book:
"Once again I shall be at court. Once again I shall be the closest friend of the queen, a constant companion in her chamber. I shall see everything, know everything. I shall be at the very centre of life again, I shall be the new Queen Anne's lady in waiting, serving her as loyally and well as I have served the other three of King Henry's queens. If he can rise up and marry again without fear of ghosts, then so can I." Page 15, Jane Boleyn, Blickling Hall, Norfolk November 1539Jane struggles with her role in the demise of her husband and sister-in-law and again the author offers a refreshing perspective on her motives. Jane strives to be Anne's confidant, all the while recognising the precarious nature of her union with the King:
"She will have to learn to obey him. Not in the grand things, any woman can put on a bit of a show. But in the thousand petty compromises that come to a wife every day. The thousand times a day when one has to bite the lip and bow the head and not argue in public, nor in private, nor even in the quiet recesses of one's own mind. If your husband is a king, this is even more important. If your husband is King Henry, it is a life or death decision." Page 124 Jane Boleyn, Greenwich Palace, 6 January 1540Serving Anne of Cleves in court is Katherine Howard who is portrayed as a young, foolish, sexually active and extremely flirtatious young lady. Anne had been the subject of unkind gossip from the court when young Kitty Howard came to her defence:
"I was so grateful to her for that. She is a foolish, frivolous little thing but she has the cleverness of a stupid girl, since, like any stupid girl, she only thinks about one thing, and so she has become very expert in that." Page 189 Anne, Hampton Court, March 1540Despite the age gap, Katherine is encouraged to flirt with King Henry and is naive about what might follow. Seeking the King's favour and her time in the limelight, she convinces herself:
"The other wives did as they had to do, their lives ended as God and the king willed; it is really nothing to me. Even my cousin Anne Boleyn shall be nothing to me. I shall not think of her, nor of our uncle pushing her on to the throne and then pushing her on to the scaffold." Page 257 Katherine, Norfolk House, Lambeth, June 1540Meanwhile, King Henry takes his time setting aside Anne of Cleves and making her his sister in order to annul their loveless marriage. At the age of twenty-five, Anne is frustrated that she's done nothing wrong, yet by agreeing to the terms and saving her neck, the cost of staying alive is great:
"I will have to face a single life, without lover, or husband, or companion. I will have to face a lonely life, without family. I will never have a child of my own, I will never have a son to come after me, I will never have my own daughter to love. I will have to be a nun without a convent, a widow with no memories, a wife of six months and a virgin. I will have to face life in exile. I will never see Cleves again. I will never see my mother again." Page 288 Anne, Richmond Palace, 12 July 1540Despite knowing the history and seeing it portrayed in multiple documentaries, drama series, movies and historical fiction novels over the years, Philippa Gregory managed to make me care for all three characters. The novel takes us right up to the point of Katherine's and Jane's deaths at the Tower of London in February 1542, with a jump in time of five years to 1547 and the death of King Henry, setting Anne free from his reach at last.
This book is part of 'The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels' series, previously known as the 'Cousins War' and 'Tudor Court' series and each of the books can be read as a stand alone.
Here are all the books in the series in order, with reviews linked:
The Lady of the Rivers (Book 1) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The White Queen (Book 2) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Red Queen (Book 3) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Kingmaker's Daughter (Book 4) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The White Princess (Book 5) on my TBR
The Constant Princess (Book 6)
The King's Curse (Book 7)
Three Sisters, Three Queens (Book 8) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Other Boleyn Girl (Book 9)
The Boleyn Inheritance (Book 10)
The Taming of the Queen (Book 11) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Queen's Fool (Book 12)
The Virgin's Lover (Book 13)
The Last Tudor (Book 14) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Other Queen (Book 15) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Boleyn Inheritance is Book 10 and I can highly recommend it. The White Princess is next on my radar for the series and I've had a physical copy on my shelves since 2014. Have you read any of these?
