The Other Boleyn Girl: A Novel Review

This historical novel is a fictionalized account of Anne Boleyn, the 2nd wife of Henry VIII, told from the point of view of her younger sister Mary. It is based on real people and real events. Even though I know it's not a completely accurate history of the time, it's a very fascinating read of what might have been going through the minds of these people, and what may have happened to lead up to these major events in history.

Mary, the younger and lesser known of the Boleyn sisters, is married by the age of 13 to a man chosen by her ambitious family, and also has no say in the matter when her family pushes for her to be a mistress to the king when she is barely 14 years old. After bearing two children by the king, he begins to lose interest in Mary, and that is when her sister Anne sets her sights on the king; but she does not merely wish to be just another mistress, her ambition is to be queen. Her parents, uncle and her brother George all work together to make this happen, and Mary is also forced by her family to go along with the plan.

Mary is conflicted between doing what she feels she needs to do for her family, and her growing sense of morality which conflicts with that. Always hanging over her also is the threat by Anne that Mary will never see her children again if she does not obey Anne's wishes, so Mary goes along with what her family wants even though she doesn't feel it it right.

I really enjoyed this book, it's a very interesting story about what life was like in the court of King Henry VIII, and especially what it was like in that time to be a woman, when often women were used as pawns to further their families ambitions. Even knowing how Anne's story ends, it's still a page turning journey to see how she ended up there.