THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRLPhilippa Gregory

Philippa GregoryPhilippa Gregory was born in Kenya in 1954, was educated in Bristol and at the National Council for the Training of Journalists course in Cardiff. She worked as a senior reporter on the Portsmouth News, and as a journalist and producer for BBC radio.

Philippa obtained a BA degree in history at the University of Sussex in Brighton and a PhD at Edinburgh University in 18th-century literature. Her first novel, Wideacre, was written as she completed her PhD and became an instant world wide bestseller. Wideacre, was followed by a sequel, The Favoured Child, and the trilogy: Meridon.

The Other Boleyn Girl, is a runaway best-seller which went worldwide telling the story of the little-known sister to Anne Boleyn. The Other Boleyn Girl was adapted for the BBC as a single television drama and a film was produced starring Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn, Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.

Some of Philipa’s books: The Boleyn Inheritance

The Constant Princess

The Virgin’s Lover

The Queens Fool

Earthly Joys

Virgin Earth

A Respectable Trade

This novel shows the two sisters as pawns in the family pursuit of wealth and position, masterminded by their father and their malicious uncle the Duke of Norfolk in order to catch the eye of a king desperate for a male heir.

The youngest of the two sisters. She was an innocent girl who married at an early age. Mary catches the eye of king Henry. She was a pawn for her family to rise in fortune and favor if she could give the king an heir to the throne.

Mary Boleyn

Anne BoleynAnne was an ambitious, woman. She did hold off Henry's amorous advances for quite some time and pressured him to make her more than a mere mistress if he wanted her to give herself to him. In the end, she won... or sort of.

King Henry VIIIHenry is the King of England, he is gradually becoming dissatisfied with his aging wife Catherine of Aragon who has been unable to bear him an heir. Henry grows ever more impatient and sets his eyes on Mary.

Queen Catherine of Aragon

Queen of England incapable of giving birth to a male heir.

George Boleyn

Only son of leading diplomat Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard.

Sir Thomas BoleynEnglish diplomat and politician. Married to Elizabeth Howard, father of the three Boleyns.

Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk

The ambitious mastermind. He sees in the absence of heirs to the king’s throne the perfect chance to raise his influence in the court.

Summary When Catherine of Aragon fails to produce a male heir to

the English throne, the Duke of Norfolk and his brother in law Thomas Boleyn plan to install his elder daughter Anne in the court of King Henry as the king's mistress, thereby furthering their own political ambitions. Their plan rebounds when Henry, injured in a hunting accident, is nursed by Mary and becomes smitten with her. With great unwillingness, the recently married Mary and her husband William Carey agree to accept positions in the court, knowing full well what will be expected of her. Separated from her husband, who is sent away on an assignment by the king, Mary finds herself falling in love with Henry.

Rebellious Anne marries a bethroded nobleman without the King’s consent. When george tells Mary, she alerts her father and uncle, and Anne is sent to France.

When Mary gets pregnant, Anne returns from France and is demanded to keep the King’s attention in case Mary suffers a miscarriage. Henry falls in love with Anne, but she wont give herself to him until he promise to give her a higher position. She even made him promise he will never go to bed with his wife or speak to Mary ever again in exchange, just after Mary gave birth to the son Henry was waiting for, making Mary’s triumph hollow. But Anne whent much further and told the King she wanted to be his Queen.

Henry succumbs to Anne's demands, declares himself the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and divorces his wife. Anne weds Henry and becomes Queen of England. The sisters reach a reconciliation and Mary stays by Anne's side at court.

Anne gives birth to a daughter, disappointing Henry and miscarries their second child. Desperate Anne asks her brother to try to impregnate her and this was witnessed by George’s neglected wife Jane. Her testimony leads to both Anne and George’s arrest and execution. Mary takes care of Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth.