The author of The Other Boleyn Girl (2002) returns to the executed
queen's doomed family in a historical novel that maps the sad
demise of Henry VIII in a series of intimate personal
testimonies.Gregory's tale of greed and revenge takes place against
the short, unhappy tenures of Henry's fourth and fifth wives.
Jockeying for position close to the throne, three powerful,
ambitious women collide. The author skillfully allows each
character to tell her side of the story in her own words. The first
voice we hear belongs to 30-year-old Jane Boleyn, widowed
sister-in-law to Anne. Jane's husband George was implicated in his
sister's alleged infidelities and went with her to the scaffold in
1533; his calculating wife moved to save her inheritance rather
than her husband and six years later is still scheming. Next up is
Anne of Cleves, soon to be Queen Number Four, a provincial,
German-speaking Protestant princess chosen by Henry's advisor,
Thomas Cromwell, as a politically suitable alliance to keep Spain
and France at bay. Badgered and bullied all her life by her brother
and mother, 24-year-old Anne wants nothing more than to escape
Cleves and have a meaningful life. The third voice belongs to
Katherine Howard, a pretty, 15-year-old cousin of the dead Anne
Boleyn and an incorrigible flirt who is brought to court as a
lady-in-waiting by her conniving, powerful uncle, the Duke of
Norfolk. Also summoned to court to attend the new queen, Jane
begins plotting behind the scenes with Norfolk to assure Anne of
Cleve's hasty fall and Katherine's quick ascent in Henry's favor.
Gregory's knowledge of the period, combined with her novelistic
skill, allows her to view this grim tale through the eyes of the
three women: wily, experienced Jane; naive, sensible Anne; and
vain, greedy young Kitty. Their first-person accounts are
convincing and shockingly self-serving.Royal history spoon-fed in a
highly digestible form. (Kirkus Reviews)
From the bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa
Gregory, comes a wonderfully atmospheric evocation of the court of
Henry VIII and his final queens. The king will decide who will live
and who will die; he has the power of God now. 1539. Henry VIII
must take his fourth wife and the dangerous prize is won by Anne of
Cleves. A German princess by birth, Anne is to be Henry's pawn in
the Protestant alliance against Rome, but the marriage falters from
the start. Henry finds nothing to admire in his new queen, setting
himself against his advisors and nobles to pay court to young
Katherine Howard. The new queen begins to sense a trap closing
around her. And Jane Boleyn, summoned to the inner circle once more
by her uncle the Duke of Norfolk, finds a fractious court haunted
by the Boleyn legacy of death and deceit. Nothing is certain in a
kingdom ruled by an increasingly tyrannical king.
General
Imprint: |
HarperCollinsPublishers
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
March 2007 |
First published: |
May 2007 |
Authors: |
Philippa Gregory
|
Dimensions: |
197 x 130 x 32mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - B-format
|
Pages: |
518 |
Edition: |
New Ed |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-00-719033-1 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Genre fiction >
Historical fiction
|
LSN: |
0-00-719033-6 |
Barcode: |
9780007190331 |
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