So when I was at Hampton Court I caught sight of a topical
book which looked like a good yarn. Here’s my review of it. Written from my luxury bedroom at the Randolph, Oxford.
(as you can see its a terrible strain!)
‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ is the first in a series of novels
by Gregory set at the Tudor Court in England. If your English history is a
little rusty the Tudors were the English monarchical family between 1485 and
1603. My interest in this period of English history has taken some time to
develop, starting with context for Shakespeare, via television series The
Tudors and recently visiting Hampton Court Palace.
The ‘Other Boleyn Girl’ is Mary Boleyn, sister of Henry
VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn (mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England). The
book follows the rise and fall of the popularity of the Boleyn family at Henry
VIII’s court. It reminded me of some Jane Austen I’d read in that the story
doesn’t travel very far; the story focuses on the social relationships at one
court, albeit across 15 years. I enjoyed the novel approach of taking a
well-known story from a different angle, especially one that lets us look on
Anne with sympathy. I think our inherent monarchical stance in Britain has made
us quite defensive of the king. Gregory’s talent is in furnishing well-known
figures with human characters, with probable dialogue. When Henry has an
accident on the tennis court, Gregory describes his thought, ‘torn between the
intense pain of his broken foot and the ludicrous thought that the Boleyns had
attempted to assassinate him with tennis’. Henry VIII depicted with humour and
yet pointing to a deeper theme; throughout the book the Boleyn triumvirate
(Anne, Mary and George) are embroiled in a battle at court whilst appearing
dedicated courtiers and courtesans.
Taking the perspective of a woman in a patriarchal age was
an interesting angle for Gregory to portray. There are frequent references to
the role and powers of women in the novel. When watching Jane Seymour skate
across ice Mary reflects, ‘to be a Seymour girl must be very like being a
Boleyn girl, when your father and your brother thrust you towards the king and
you have neither the ability nor the wisdom
to run away’. Women in the novel have
all the power and yet none of it. This is a woman’s book told from a woman’s
perspective. It is about romance and laughter but simultaneously questions
whether these are big enough things to live for. It did get me thinking about what I wear and why, whose styles I follow consciously or otherwise.
I learnt a lot about the Tudor court whilst reading the
book, even just remembering the need for itinerancy with such an opulent
court. It is obvious that Gregory has
done copious amounts of research to ensure her book is faithful to historical
events but this desire to be accurate can at times be exhausting, as if Gregory
needs to show us how much research she has done. This reminded me a little of
Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel) another recent work on Tudor England, although unlike
WH, TOBG only concerned itself with romance and not all of politics and
religion too.
The book was slow at times and I my mind did wonder, as with
Austen, is there going to be anything more to this than romance and giggling. The
book itself, however, has been turned into a film starring Natalie Portman and
Scarlett Johansson, and my little favourite Jim Sturgess. I have to say I
haven’t seen the film yet but I think I will try to now. For a commuting
companion on the slow trains of Germany Gregory kept me entertained.
7/10
