Literature Page

Author: Philippa Gregory

Age: Teen to adult

Genre: Historical Fiction

Topics for Discussion: Adultery, authority, tyranny, Protestant Reformation

Summary: The novel primarily follows the early life of Mary Boleyn, Anne's lesser known sister. Having bettered her family's fortunes by being married off to a lord, Mary's family presses her into an affair with the king when he shows an interest in her. After having a daughter and a son by him, the king loses interest, prompting the family to move Anne into the same position. A canny courtier, Anne manipulates the king into divorcing his wife Katherine in order to marry Anne. After giving birth to a daughter and having several miscarriages, the king again grows weary, and now has the authority and audacity to put aside yet another wife in his eternal quest for a legitimate son.

Book Review: There were a few things that really interested me in this novel. First, it is interesting that Gregory presents the story from Mary's point of view, giving us a picture of a woman who is hardly remembered by people today. Second, she also presents a surprising portrait of Anne, who has often been romanticised by society today. Gregory's novel destroys the image of Anne as the innocent victim or the wronged lover; instead she is a self-seeking, power hungry courtier who quiet possibly is guilty of the charges brought against her.

There were also, however, a few things that really bothered me about this novel.

1. The language and tone of the novel as a whole is very modern. While there is nothing necessarily wrong with this, it fails to create a historical atmosphere, fails to bring the reader into that century and society.

2. Gregory seems to have abandoned authenticity at some points in favor of creating a feminist perspective. This always bothers me in historical fiction--we can't change the conventions and thought patterns of an age in order to make their lives more acceptable by our standards.

3. This one is just a personal preference, but I felt the discussions of the adultery and sexual acts were a little too specific. While the novel doesn't come anything close to eroticism, I felt that some scenes were unnecessarily long and/or explicit. I'm almost willing to overlook this one, however, since Gregory was trying to recreate the loosening of morals that was experienced during the reign of King Henry.

Multimedia: The whole reason why I read this novel was because I heard that the movie was in production, set to be released later in 2007.

Christian Perspectives: My main concern with this novel is the sexuality, though it is accurate historically. Henry VIII is remembered not only for his many wives but also for his even more plentiful affairs. Families vied to have their daughters noticed because with the king's attentions came favors that trickled down to the slighted husbands, supportive parents, and dedicated brothers.

Also a quick warning that the novel deals ever so delicately with homosexuality, which is also historically accurate. It is mostly just alluded to, and Gregory is very careful not to project any bias one way or the other. While some characters look at it as an aberration, others involved take the "I can't help it" approach.

The real interest for Christians in this novel is the split in the Catholic church and how Henry used the new Protestant religion for his own purposes. Unfortunately, the novel only deals periferally with this issue, so I wouldn't read this just to learn more about that period of ecclesiastical and political history.