Becca Reviews: The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory

Audiobook - read by Vanessa Kirby, listened via BorrowBox.

Gregory's ninth instalment of The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels is often summarised as 'Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: The love of a king', however, I think it would be more accurate to state two sisters battling for their different versions of freedom. Anne thinks, somewhat blindly, that reaching the King's side and forcing out the first Queen in the process will provide status and security. However, she fails to consider that her actions have in fact made the Queen's position the least stable of all. Mary, forever blindly loyal to her family, specifically Anne, even after their terrible treatment of her, does not have any organic wants of her own in my understanding. After years of being used as a chess piece in the game of Court, being thrust in front of various men for her family's betterment, and all this beginning when she was only a girl of 12, Mary's 'want' is to be free, away from Court, with a man of her choosing, and all her children around her regardless of their future responsibilities.

Some elements of Gregory's writing that stood out to me are her description of smells, before setting almost any scene she will describe the aromas, e.g. lavender in the garden, the top of a child's head, the heady smell of skin, warm breath, and the scent of sex. This adds another dimension to the story telling and I really enjoyed this element. After the scent comes Gregory's depiction of the scene, described beautifully as though an oil painting, a little two dimensional at times but pretty and in keeping with the feel of the time period.

It has to be said some elements are repetitive, particularly some phrasing that felt copied and pasted, unfortunately very noticeable when listening on audiobook. This audio version was done very well, Vanessa Kirby utilises various convincing tones and voices which distinguish the characters and keep the story clear without sounding over the top and becoming distracting.

Overall I enjoyed the character arc of Mary, the history plus some added flare with a little artistic license, and the time span of Mary's story from age 12 to 35 (ish).

Lastly, (not really a spoiler because you have had about 500 years (literally) to discover this plot, but 'spoiler' if you will...) after following the younger, fairer, more innocent, and other Boleyn girl Mary, the ending see's her lose almost everything and move away from Court, Royalty, and the world of titles, however she does gain something of a new title, she is finally The Boleyn Girl and not The Other.

Read: 12/08/2024

Published: 21/04/2001

ISBN: 9780743227445

Price: £9.99 (GBP)