Whether it’s the early reign of Elizabeth I, the mystery surrounding Catalina of Spain, the rivalry of the Boleyn sisters, or the tales of how England’s royal gardens came to be, Philippa Gregory is one author who never fails educating on history’s players with her dramatic retelling of their stories. In her latest, THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE, three women, of whom history tells little more than their perfunctory textbook facts, are given their voice through her skilled pen.
Jane Boleyn, widow of George Boleyn, brother to Anne (King Henry’s second wife), is in exile. She longs to be back at court where most of her life has been lived; but as a ‘Seymour’ assumed the throne following Anne’s execution, and as the Seymour family is at odds with the Howard family, to whom Jane belongs, her days at King Henry’s court are ended. Yet, when Queen Jane Seymour dies and a new queen for Henry is chosen, her uncle, the duke, summons Jane back to her place at court to order the new queen’s ladies – and establish the watchful eye of a Howard family presence.
Juxtaposed against Jane and her knowledge of court is the flighty, naïve, and vain child beauty Kathryn Howard. She dreamily wishes for pretty dresses to wear, grand balls at which to dance, and handsome young men to fawn over her – as they easily, and often, do. Unbeknownst to herself, though possibly anticipated by her uncle, Kathryn catches the eye of the lustful, though impotent, king who, as Jane observes when returning to his court, has deteriorated into a rather fat monster of a pig upon England’s throne.
Henry, though, is pledge in marriage to Anne of Cleves, a young woman who ardently seeks escape from the oppressive system of her brother and chastising hand of her stringent mother. Both turn sour at any displays of feminine sexuality Anne, or any woman of Cleves, might innocently display, to which she is beaten and punished for these transgressions across their moral line.
Anne’s initial introduction to Henry goes badly. She rebuffs what she views as a slobbering, fat, grotesque, old fool-of-a-man – only to be informed afterwards that the silly man she thrust away from her and spit out of her mouth his unwanted slobber was the king. He is hurt, and nearly comes to the epiphany all people need if they are ever to make that transition from adolescent to adult. However, it is here that Kathryn Howard steps forward and attempts to assuage Henry’s hurt and shame, feigning ignorance of who he is. Henry notices the pretty girl, and the lives of all three women meet their watershed moment. Nothing will ever be the same afterwards.
I was asked if THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE was a book I would buy at full-price and in hardcover. Normally, these are the books one finds themselves so overtly impressed with, the most durable and substantial form of it must be acquired. I have done this for a number of such books I wish to retain for future generations. However with this particular book, I answered unsure. In my opinion, while the story was indeed engaging, and the characters were three dimensional, and the approach of narrating the story from each of the three women’s perspectives was unique and challenging, I still did not view it as rising to that level of excellence.
There was, for myself, an odd lack of passion. All three women, in essence, stumbled into their separate situations, and then succumbed to their fate, the wrath of Henry’s will. There was no fight. There was merely survival.
One example that stands out in my mind comes with Anne of Cleves. She longs to escape her brother and mother. She comes to England to marry Henry. She falls in love with the country and its people. She begins to dream of being, not only, a good queen to her new country, but also a good mother to Henry’s children. Then Henry announces that he is displeased with her. He says she has bewitched him out of his manhood. He says she was never free to marry him due to a prior arrangement that promised her to another.
None of this is true.
Anne wishes to fight it, but as Jane advises her, to do so would be to invite the same fate as Henry’s three previous wives. So Anne, reluctantly, acquiesces. Henry marries Kathryn Howard, the child in Anne’s court he lusts over, and that is all. The moment comes, and then it passes, all as if Anne were doing nothing more than visiting England. It was now time to leave.
Even so, THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE is a wonderful story to indulge oneself in. It is a story I am glad I now know, and I would recommend it to anyone who asks. I just wonder what happened to the emotional depth of her prior works from my past reading lists.
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