The Other Boleyn Girl

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The Other Boleyn Girl

• Jean Plaidy, The King’s Pleasure (1949)
  Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ Report repeated from page 36 of the January 15th bulletin, when scheduled for earlier publication, as follows: “Anne Boleyn's story- and defense- told with the same warmth and human qualities as the author's previous, Beyond the Blue Mountains, and back-dropped with the many political moves that marked her short career. Here is her wit, her courage, her power, as she wins the King and holds him until she produces no son, as she loses him to Jane Seymour and undergoes the tragedy of her predecessor, Katharine of Aragon. Here too the plot against her, promoted by Cromwell, abetted by her sister-in-law, which has its sad ending when Anne is beheaded. Historical novelization that is ably told, carefully mounted, this offers a satisfying portrait of its main, and minor, characters, that make believable the life of the period and the forces that makes possible Henry's break with Rome, his ability to use and control his court, his career as a 'royal murderer'. Good supplementary reading to complement Maxwell Anderson's Anne of the Thousand Days.
  (Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1949)—from NoveList
• Philippa Gregory, The Constant Princess (2005)
  A richly detailed fictional portrait of Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon, the daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, follows her from her passionate youthful marriage to Henry's older brother, Arthur, her widowhood, her marriage to Henry and her denial of her true love for Arthur, and the divorce that led to Henry's second marriage to Anne Boleyn.—from NoveList
• Lorien Gardner, A Lady Raised High: A Novel of Anne Boleyn (2006)
  When she becomes a favorite in Anne Boleyn's court, Frances Pierce witnesses firsthand the political and religious upheaval that King Henry VIII causes when he casts aside his wife Catherine and marries Anne, setting in motion a chain of events, rife with betrayal and intrigue, that change the course of history.—from NoveList
• Karen Harper, The Poyson Garden: An Elizabethan Mystery (1999)
  Fans of bestselling authors Anne Perry and Ellis Peters are sure to love Karen Harper's new historical mystery series, rich with period detail and featuring Elizabeth Tudor, the future queen of England, as its heroine. Living in exile in the English countryside, the twenty-five-year-old Princess Elizabeth awaits her fate during the waning years of her ill and childless half sister's reign. Despite an occasional truce, there has always been bad blood between Queen Mary and the princess since Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, replaced Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon, in the heart of King Henry VIII. Mary has already sent Elizabeth to the Tower of London when a group of Protestants raise a rebellion in her name, forcing Mary to release her, and the half sisters into an uneasy détente. Little does Elizabeth know that in the autumn of 1558, she will be called upon to explore not only England's rural heartland, but also her own heart. At great risk to her person and her nation's future, she plunges herself into an investigation of a multiple murder where she might very well become a master poisoner's next victim.—from Fiction Connection
• Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1992)
  “Brilliantly written and meticulously researched...Alison Weir is adept at bringing to life these historical figures.” SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Henry VIII is perhaps England's most infamous monarch, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. He was married to six distinctly different women, and in this richly detailed and meticulously researched history, these remarkable, often misunderstood queens come to life once again. Their full histories and personalities emerge at last, giving voices to the six extraordinary women who left their distinctive marks on the English throne and thereby changed the course of British history.—from Non-Fiction Connection

• Source Databases: NoveList, Fiction Connection, Non-Fiction Connection

Major Character List

The Other Boleyn Girl

• Mary Boleyn – Sister of Anne Boleyn, favorite lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine, and the novel’s protagonist.
• Anne Boleyn – Sister of Mary Boleyn and famed second wife of King Henry VIII.
• George Boleyn – The third Boleyn child, brother to Mary and Anne, husband to Jane Parker, lover to Sir Francis Weston
• Sir Thomas Boleyn – Boleyn patriarch, helps in conspiring the use of Anne and Mary to please and manipulate the king
• Henry VIII – King of England, lover to Mary, husband of Queen Katherine, and eventually husband to Anne.
• Jane Parker – Lady-in-waiting, married to George Boleyn.
• William Stafford – Servant to the court, Mary Boleyn’s second husband
• William Carey – Mary’s first husband, to whom she is wed during her affair with Henry VIII.
• Sir Francis Weston – George Boleyn’s lover
• Katherine of Aragon – Henry VIII’s first wife, widow of his brother, and mother to the Princess Mary.
• Catherine and Henry – Mary Boleyn’s children with King Henry.

Discussion Questions

The Other Boleyn Girl

1. What is the significance of beginning and ending the novel with beheadings?
2. Based on Gregory’s character depiction of Anne Boleyn, would the character have been as motivated in her conquest of the crown without the sisterly rivalry of her sister Mary?
3. Is Mary’s character able to deflect the “victim” label under which she could have potentially played?
4. What are Mary’s moments of greatest strength?
5. What does this novel say about the role of women in Tudor England?
6. What does Gregory do to impart a sense of historical context in the novel?
7. How do you feel about the depiction of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters and their brother George? Is it an appropriate relationship?
8. How much of The Other Boleyn Girl exists in the realm of royal privilege? What glimpses does Gregory give into the lives of the non-aristocratic English?
9. Between Henry’s extramarital affairs with the Boleyn sisters, George’s homosexual affair while married, and sundry other examples of infidelity, does Gregory give the impression that fidelity in family is more important than fidelity in marriage?
10. Mary is the only person at the end of the novel with an impression of lasting contentment in her future – does the novel give the impression that happiness lies in keeping one’s head down?