Yes, Phillippa Gregory reeled me in again! This book picks up where The Queen's Fool left off. Queen Mary dies, Elizabeth is crowned, the Dudley's fall and rise, and Hannah Green even makes a cameo.

I love Philippa Gregory, but I can't believe how much she dislikes Elizabeth! Even in The Queen's Fool she was decidedly set against England's virgin queen. This book was slow to get started, but once it got going it was a great read. Not my favourite Gregory book, but good nonetheless. I feel so bad for Amy, no woman should ever have to live (and die) like that.

I swear If I could eat a Phillipa Greogry novel I would. I love her work. I love the way she mixes historical fact and fiction and romance all into one yummy tasty book. This book was fascinating to me because I had never even heard of a "fool" before. I had heard of a jester, but not a fool. It was a very interesting point of view. Very unique.

A "seer" in the courts of both Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary lives on the edge in many ways in this intriguing tale of court life.

I find the fact that Gregory dares to make Mary the sympathetic one instead of Elizabeth most fascinating!

Gregory's books impressive to say the least!

To those who say the circumstance and situation of the main characther Hanna are highly improbable...get over it people! It's Fiction!

One of the best of Philippa Gregory, a story of a Spanish Jew serving in Queen Mary's court as a Fool. A very different take on Tudor England from other historical fiction books I have read.

Okay, I broke down and bought another Phillipa Gregory book. Whatever it was about The Other Boleyn Girl that kept me reading got me to buy another book. Sigh. Hopefully I won't have such a love/hate relationship with this one, but I'll be sure to keep you updated.

**UPDATE: Dammit, that was a good book. 500 pages flew by, and I didn't have that guilty hate-it-but-love-it feeling. I really just enjoyed it! Gave a much different portrayal of Queen Elizabeth than I'm used to. The complaint I have is that there were lines that seem directly taken from the movie Elizabeth (the one with Cate Blanchett). Didn't appreciate that, but I enjoyed the storyline. :)

this is by far my favourite philippa gregory to date. I like it even more than the other boleyn girl. I found Hannah very relatable, and the women's rights issues brought up in this novel (marriage, fidelity, promiscuity, property, etc.) made me murderous. An excellent, excellent read.

The Boleyn Inheritance tells the story of King Henry VIII's marriages to Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, wives numbered 4 and 5 respectively, from their own perspective, as well as from the perspective of Jane Boleyn.

I enjoyed this novel just as much as The Other Boleyn Girl, and a little more than The Constant Princess. The change of perspectives had the potential to be confusing, but Gregory has made it work brilliantly, and the story is well-paced. The only downside I can think of is that it is, at times, a little repetative.

It is invigorating to read Anne of Cleves as an intelligent young woman who drew the short-straw when she was selected by King Henry as his fourth wife, but grabbed the opportunity for independence when it was presented to her.

It is amusing yet sad to think of Katherine Howard as a clueless, silly girl too young to be a wife, who thought it would be fun to be married to a King old enough to be her grandfather, but who paid the highest price for her family's quest for power.

It is also very intriguing to read a perspective of Jane Boleyn. Desperate, selfish, and slightly insane Jane, whose greed sent her husband and sister-in-law to the scaffold, and then many years later Katherine Howard and herself.

As a historian, Philippa Gregory writes brilliant historical fiction, and I recommend her Tudor fiction novels to anyone who likes a good read, especially those into hist-fic. Her novels are thick, but so very easy to finish.

August 2007 - downloaded audiobook from library and listened to at work. Katherine Howard, Anne of Cleves, and Jane Boleyn narrate this story about more of King Henry's wives.

I love Philippa Gregory. I have read all her books, and this one continues that great tradition. While it is not my top favorite, it is definitely up there! I love how she ties three women's stories together, giving us the view of each on the same event (sometimes, not always). It is interesting how she picked two of King Henry's wives that we don't know much about, and made them into these well rounded women. While I can't understand how they ever thought it was a great idea to marry a man (even if he is king) who has already killed two wives is beyond me, but now, I feel as if I was given an idea about why, or how they could have ever thought of it as an escape from life -- when it could have ended it, too.

This is the second Rutherfurd book I have read, having read Sarum a few years ago. What a brilliant book this is - kept me engrossed for all of it 800++ pages.

Blurb:
Few places lie closer to the heart of the nation's heritage than the New Forest. Now, Edward Rutherfurd, the epic story-teller of London and Sarum, weaves its history and legends into compelling fiction.
From the mysterious killing of King William Rufus, treachery and witchcraft, smuggling and poaching run through this epic tale of well-born ladies, lowly woodsmen, sailors, merchants, and Cistercian monks. The feuds, wars, loyalties and passions of generations reach their climax in a crime that shatters the decorous society of Jane Austen's Bath.
From the cruel forest laws of the Normans to the danger of the Spanish Armada, from the free-roaming herds of ponies and wild deer to the mighty oaks which gave Nelson his navy, Rutherfurd has captured the essence of this ancient place. Forest and sea: there is no more perfect English heartland.

I'm a huge Edward Rutherfurd junkie, and this book is no exception. Although it's about 300 pages shorter than he's used to, it's still filled with memorable people, events, and backgrounds. It makes me want to travel!