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The Other Boleyn Girl

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The Other Boleyn Girl

By: Philippa Gregory
Narrated by: Vanessa Kirby
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About this listen

This chance for us Howards comes once in a century…

1521. Henry VIII rules over a fashionable court alive with pageant and celebration, the lack of a son his only threat. When young Mary Boleyn arrives at court, she becomes his new mistress, an unwitting pawn in the ambitions of the powerful Boleyn and Howard families.

As Henry’s interest begins to wane, the Boleyns scheme to put forward Mary’s sister, Anne. Yet Anne Boleyn, newly returned from the French court, won’t agree to be Henry’s mistress – only his wife.

Pitting the king’s desperation for an heir against the advice of his powerful advisors, Wolsey and Cromwell, what follows will change the course of a country’s history.

©2001 Philippa Gregory (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Romance Thriller & Suspense Fiction Royalty Tudor Destiny
All stars
Most relevant  
Fantastic read. Narration was great but needed better editing. Otherwise a sensational book if you enjoy historical novels.

A new favourite!

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Enough history to hook in an enthusiast; enough embellishment to entice those who aren’t. Although truth is perhaps stretched in places, all instances are ultimately in service of a better story and are rarely based on outright lies.

Beneath the veneer of a dramatic first-person period piece is a rich tale which reprimands patriarchal societies that wrongly relegate women to objects of only sex and reproduction. The book highlights the perils of pursuing power and ultimately queries to what extent one should follow familial and societal expectation at the expense of their own self-interest.

It is maybe longer than it needs to be, it is repetitive at times, sometimes it reads more like an erotic fan fiction than a believable account of an educated woman, and the (necessarily) predictable ending is somewhat abrupt — but despite its flaws I would recommend to anyone with an interest in the period, or the royal family.

The narration is also wonderful. Very epic :)

[An]Other [Good] Bo[ok]…

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I was totally enthralled by the story and the characters. Vanessa Kirby was an amazing narrator. Loved it.

Mesmerising

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Soooooo good and the narrator is absolutely divine. Enjoyed the depth of the characters and the intertwining of everyone

I loooooved

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I really enjoyed listening to this book. I finished this in just over a week.

A great read

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I was recommended this book by a friend after a discussion on why women are so much better at writing about relationships and love scenes than men. I admit that as an author I have never quite ‘nailed it’ so this was a lesson from the best in the business, Philippa Gregory. The story stayed with me for many days after I had finished the book which is why I’m giving it five stars. That’s exactly what a classic book should do. It’s a rip-snorter of a story helped by the fact that it’s based one of the greatest love stories/ tragedies of all time. And because this is a work of historical fiction, Gregory is entitled to take one or two liberties with the truth. The problem with Philippa Gregory’s interpretation of events is that Anne Boleyn is a national treasure and we each own a little part of her. Every school child who is taught about Anne Boleyn cannot help but be inspired and then mortified by her unjust death. Philippa Gregory may well have stumbled upon the truth of her real character but she is portrayed as so narcissistic without any evidence that I found it almost offensive. Poor Anne and her brother suffered enough in real life without this blatant character assassination! There were other problems with the book. Too many characters were caricatures, especially poor George and I couldn’t relate to either of Mary’s husbands. The book also suffered from a saggy belly in the middle third when very little happened and the pace dropped to a slow plod. But overall Gregory describes Tudor court life like no other writer and her appreciation of history is excellent even if she does take too many liberties for the sake of a good read. I’m sure I will be a better writer after borrowing a few tips from PG and the last ten or so chapters were among the best I have ever read. A worthy ‘classic’ of a book.

Five stars despite its faults

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Interesting story, easy reading, easy to listen, narrator is very good. based on true events.

Interesting story

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Reading the whole series in order this is one of my favourites as the fate of Anne Boleyn is so well known and the story around Mary Anne and brother George very interesting

Loved the Mary Boleyn story

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Very enjoyable with a great performance by the narrator. I can’t imagine living in Tudor times with a tyrant like Henry VIII. Sisterly affection and competition was fabulous, humorous and moving.

Excellent - more than a history lesson

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Captivating story, read beautifully by Vanessa Kirby. However, there were numerous lines re-read during the performance which should have been removed during editing.

Captivating story, wonderful performance

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