I didn't think I will ever finish reading this book, even after many people recommended it to me, I always thought history is not my thing. One day though, I opened it to check it out and know exactly what it is about but I couldn't put it down and stayed up all night reading it. I think the book is great! Even if you are not interested in the history itself, read the book because it's such a great novel.
What made the story even more interesting is that I have been to London tower and the tour guide showed us where Anne Boleyn and many other people were executed, where she was locked before she was killed, it was the same room that she stayed in on the night of her coronation; so I could picture the place and the people when I was reading the book.
The book starts with the execution of the Duke of Buckingham, Mary who is the narrator in the book was only 13 then, and she was sitting watching the execution with everyone in the court and she thought that the king will stop it at last minute, but he didn't, they did cut the duke's head and took it to the king.
Mary was sent to the French court with her Brother, George and her older sister, Anne when they were all children. She came to the English court at the age of 12 when she married one of the king courtiers. Two years after her marriage, the King 'noticed' her and made it clear he was interested in her. Her family, the Boleyn Howard's, forced her to leave her husband's bed so that she can be the king's mistress and try to give him a son to hold him, because Queen Katherine didn't give him a son and she is getting old. Mary did stay with him for few years and had a daughter and a son from him, but just after she had the son and while she was still in her bed, the King got interested in her sister Anne and was in love with her and wanted no one but her after that.
Mary was allowed to go back to her husband, and he took her. He started taking her out and they were lovers for the first time, they loved each other again but before Mary go to tell him that she does love him he died from a plague.
Anne Boleyn did her evil work on the king, he was enchanted by her and wanted her so badly that he divorced his wife Queen Katherine by saying that he shouldn't have married her in the first place because she was his brother's widow, Anne made him forget how much in love with Katherine he once was.
After marrying Anne, she did give him a daughter and then miscarried few times, every time she does her family try to hide it from the king and everyone else, but in the last time there was no way they could do that and the baby who was dead turn out to be a 'monster' as they called it. What you get from the story is that she had the baby from her brother, and by the end of the story her brother and four other friends of his were executed because they were accused of sleeping with her too.
Mary found a guy who loved her and who wanted to live with her in a farm with her two children, she wanted to live with him there. They got married in secret and then went back to court, but no one knew they are married until Mary was pregnant with his baby and everyone had to know about it. After her sister and brother were executed, they left and went to live in the farm house.
Even after knowing all that about the story, or if you already know more about the history of it, the book is still worth reading.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
The other Boleyn girl – Phlippa Gregory
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8 comments:
interesting! who's the kind? was it Henry VII by any chance? i think he was quite a womaniser. are u a history/literature student by any chance? it looks like it from your books.
HAHAHA thats funny MJ a history/literature major.
wait wait MJ being a history major is just wayy too funny. I can see her as a literature major. She should change her major, oh wait, thats right...she cant!
Oh. I can't believe I didn't mention that the king is Henry VII! and he is quiet the womaniser, I'm reading 'Henry VII six wives' which is quiet interesting too. (I'm not going to start talking about it, maybe in another post after I finish the boook)
I'm not a history/literature, I'm as far from that as they get. I'm a science student through and through.
A post about Henry VII would be interesting.. I don't know much about him other than his many wives... no need to write when u finished the whole book. that might never happen.
"The children are waiting! Please tell them the story about the bald frog with the wig:
Once upon a time, there was a little mean tadpole named Rana. Rana was bald, and wears a wig. End of story."
hmmmm
hey! don't tell me you didn't laugh at the frog story! (Rana is spanish means tadpole, go check if you want!) and I did write a longer story but they won't let me post it.
and are you saying I might not finish the book! I will... in few years. :D
'Divorced, beheader, dead. Divorced, beheaded survived'
I couldn't resist saying that. It's what happened to each one of his wives, want more details? :P
actually rana in
latin means tadpole
in spanish frog,
in portoguese princess,
in urdu royoalty (raja)
in arabic looking for honor or pleasing to the eye.
its also a name of a jedi ;)
of course i laughed at the tadpole story.. i didn't know that.. when i meet a Rana I will be sure to point that one out !!
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