My real life bookclub read this one a couple of years ago. I found it reasonably enjoyable - hopefully another reader will find it so, too!

From Publishers Weekly...
'Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir. Rather than settling for a picturesque rendering of court life, Gregory conveys its claustrophobic, all-consuming nature with consummate skill. In the end, Anne's famous, tragic end is offset by Mary's happier fate, but the self-defeating folly of the quest for power lingers longest in the reader's mind.'

RELEASE NOTES:

To be released at meetup

I picked this up at our Brandon Hotel meetup - I have seen this go by on the sidebar plenty of times so it's time to read a little historical fiction.

I loved this book. The story was engrossing and I didn't want it to end. Philippa Gregory brought the Tudor Court into my loungeroom and made it real. I got involved with the characters, specially Mary the storyteller. The bawdiness of the court and the ambition of the Howard/Boleyn family was very interesting. The power of the King (Henry) and the way the families used their virginal daughters to seduce him and increase their power was frightening. I know this was fiction, but I think it painted a fairly true picture of life in that era. Childbirth was shown as particularly difficult and risky. I was interested to learn a little about three of Henry's wives (Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour).
Thanks for sharing lmn60 (another book we don't fully agree upon!)

RELEASE NOTES:

I will leave this in the massage area at Peppers Resort - off for a bit of indulgence while Andrew plays golf in 38' temperature!

A client left the book here this afternoon and we were all so excited about the find! i will read it and update when i release it!
katie

CAUGHT IN ENDOTA DAY SPA AT MOONAH LINKS GOLF RESORT ST ANDREWS BEACH, VICTORIA AUSTRALIA