Off with her head!

Over the holidays I was sitting around with Josh's family and some commercials for a History Channel show about Henry VIII came on. I naturally unleashed upon them a great gush of enthusiasm for Henry the VIII, his six wives, and his three children. I'm really no expert on the guy, but I sure do like reading books about him. Josh's sister, Katie, just happened to have Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl in her trunk and loaned it to me on the spot. I'm so glad she did, as it added a whole new character to the Henry VIII drama in my mind. Not a whole lot is known about Mary Boleyn, the famous Anne Boleyn's sister. She may have been older than Anne, and she might have been a little younger. Either way she almost certainly had an affair with Henry VIII before her sister did, and most likely had a son by him while he was still married to his first wife, the long-suffering Katherine of Aragon.

This book is told from Mary's perspective and paints a rather unsympathetic picture of the Tudor court and its most influential member, Anne Boleyn. The book is a little romantic and sometimes kind of silly, but it is extremely readable (especially if you are into this kind of thing). Sometimes the sibling rivalry and not-so-subtle comments on the treatment of women at court can get heavy-handed, but if you don't take the whole thing too seriously you will find an engrossing and intriguing read in your hands.

And in case you were wondering, Mary Boleyn eventually married a lowly soldier for love (which really pissed Anne and the rest of her family off). She also kept her head off the chopping block, even though her sister and brother were both executed to make way for Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour. Later, during the long and stable reign of Anne's daughter Elizabeth, Mary's children made some good marriages and ended up ruling over a powerful English dynasty.

Three cheers for historical fiction!