|
The Boleyn Inheritance (Boleyn) | 
 enlarge | Author: Philippa Gregory
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $2.36
You Save: $13.64 (85%)
New (60) Used (98) Collectible (1) from $2.36
Avg. Customer Rating:  165 reviews
Sales Rank: 861
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 074327251X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780743272513
ASIN: 074327251X
Publication Date: August 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: May have some marks or highlights.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Three women who share one fate: the Boleyn InheritanceANNE OF CLEVES: She runs from her tiny country, her hateful mother, and her abusive brother to a court ruled by the terror of a vengeful king who despises her. Her Boleyn Inheritance: accusations and false witness. KATHERINE HOWARD: She is in love -- but not with the diseased old man who made her queen and beds her night after night. Her Boleyn Inheritance: the threat of the axe. JANE ROCHFORD: She is the Boleyn girl whose testimony sent her husband and sister-in-law to their deaths. Throughout Europe, her name is a byword for malice, jealousy, and twisted lust. Her Boleyn Inheritance: a fortune and a title, in exchange for her soul. The Boleyn Inheritance is a novel drawn tight as a lute string about three women whose positions brought them wealth, admiration, and power as well as deceit, betrayal, and terror. Once again, Philippa Gregory is at her intelligent, page-turning best.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 160 more reviews...
 Wonderful October 11, 2008
Great and human writing showing this time in history. I read it again and again.
 Phillippa Gregory October 10, 2008
Thoroughly enjoyed this and all of her books which I have read already...planning for several more!
Life in the times of Henry VIII October 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book can be considered a sequel to Gregory's book The Other Boleyn Girl. This book though tells a slightly different story.
This book centers on three women who have to deal with the aftermath of Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
Jane Boleyn was the wife of George Boleyn and the sister in law of Anne Boleyn. Her testimony helped convict both of them leading to their deaths. When Henry VIII decides to marry Anne of Cleves Jane comes back to court to help.
Anne wants to get out under the thumb of her mother and brother and so is very excited when she is to become Queen of England. However the relationship between Anne and Henry is tumultuous and only six months after their marriage they are divorced and she becomes Henry's beloved sister.
Katherine Howard is the cousin of Anne Boleyn. She lived with her step-grandmother until her uncle says that he wants her to serve Anne of Cleves. Soon she catches the heart of Henry and several days after the divorce she is the new Queen of England. There is only one problem, she does not love Henry. Soon Katherine catches the eye of Thomas Culpeper and Jane Boleyn must help them to keep their relationship a secret from King and court, which ends with both Jane and Katherine beheaded for treason.
A very interesting look at history.
Gregory tackles lesser known Tudor figures with winning results September 24, 2008
I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed "The Other Boleyn Girl," I liked "The Boleyn Inheritance" a great deal more. First and foremost, we are treated to a story about three women from English history that have been for the most part relegated to footnotes and back-burners, with the sole exception being Katherine Howard, who has received a more substantial amount of attention lately; however Anne of Cleves, Henry's fourth and most obscure (though not uninteresting) wife whose marriage to the king was a very short-lived 7 months and Lady Jane Rochford (sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and wife to her brother, George Boleyn) whose false accusations were considered the catalyst for their fall from grace and, ultimately, execution are sometimes played off as minor historical figures in a time and place that never lacked for larger than life personalities. The novel is narrated by all three of the aforementioned women and we see how their lives, though, woven in many respects, were very separate and their narration tells us as much. While serving as a lady to the king's new protestant German wife, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard catches the eye of the aging king whose lust and sense of romance are rekindled by her calculated flirtations and feigned innocence. As a willing pawn for her ambitious family, headed by her ruthless uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, she has little idea of the price she will pay for a childhood indiscretion that surfaces soon after being crowned queen of England. Lady Jane Rochford named Queen Katherine's lady-in-waiting, quickly becomes her greatest confidant, a role that will ultimately lead to her downfall, as court secrets and accusations of betrayal surface and she's named a conspirator in the queen's affairs. Throughout all this, Anne, who thought she'd gained relative safety when Henry annuls their marriage, declares her his sister and grants her various properties, among them the Boleyn ancestral home, Hever Castle, soon realizes the precariousness of her position when the king's fickle and suspicious nature rears its ugly head and her quiet existence is threatened with fear of imprisonment and, perhaps, even death. Just like with her earlier novels, Philippa Gregory's storytelling is both succinct (no padding here) and first rate, with every character given ample attention, which keeps the story moving along at a breathless clip. The narrative never wanes and the climactic exchange between Lady Jane Rochford and the Duke of Norfolk is alone worth the price of admission, as it were. The ferociousness of the encounter is such that it will not soon be forgotten. By far, my favorite PG novel, so I highly recommend it.
Not as Juicy September 22, 2008
Be warned, those who enjoyed the juicy romanticism of The Other Boleyn Girl may be disappointed here. But the facts of the story have a little less debauchery as history writes...
The author was daring as she split her tale between several women's voices... and in the end wove them back together again. (I listened to this novel on my iPod, and this gave the story a better cohesion.)
Lade Jane Rochford, Anne Boelyn's sister in law, whose husband went to the scaffold for incest with Queen Anne is the narrator.
QUEEN- Anne of Cleves is a well drawn character.
QUEEN- "Kitty" Howard is given a flippant air.
and the Duke of Norfolk attempting the regain standing after the Howard girls' spiraling defeat.
This novel gave meaning to many elements we could not understand looking back centuries later. It touched on the political structure and strings being pulled in Europe. It touched on the influence of the church and a wave of reform crashing through Europe.
It spoke clearly of the tyrant Henry had become, touching on those whose livelihoods depended upon the moody man. The perspective on a monarchy, vassals and power within a court... these are the HIGHLIGHTS of this novel. Not the juicy (historical licensed) affairs and torrid romances in Henry's youth. In truth, the tone of the court had changed. Henry's focus, although always self serving, had changed. Be ready for the divergence.
So this is not The Other Boleyn Girl. But the story told is a solid, entertaining one. And when you are writing about history, it is also well known the outcome. This is a fluffy, entertaining historical novel.
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 - RailroadBookstore.com
| |
