The Boleyn Inheritance

By: Philippa Gregory

Narrated by: Bianca Amato, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ruthie Henshall

Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Three women share one fate....

The Boleyn Inheritance is a novel drawn tight as a lute string about a court ruled by the gallows and three women whose positions brought them wealth, admiration, and power - as well as deceit, betrayal, and terror. Once again, Philippa Gregory has brought a vanished world to life: the whisper of a silk skirt on a stone stair, the yellow glow of candlelight illuminating a hastily written note, the murmurs of the crowd gathering on Tower Green below the newly built scaffold. In The Boleyn Inheritance, Gregory is at her intelligent and suspenseful best.

©2006 Philippa Gregory Limited. All rights reserved (P)2006 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Compelling." (Booklist)
"Gregory's accounts of events are accurate enough to be persuasive, her characterizations modern enough to be convincing. Rich in intrigue and irony, this is a tale where readers will already know who was divorced, beheaded, or survived, but will savor Gregory's sharp staging of how and why." (Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful story

The three point of views was written with excellence and performed beautifully. Loved this story!

Good story

The format with constantly mentioning the names made it a bit awkward while hearing the story

Gregory's Best To Date

While I have enjoyed _The Other Boleyn Girl_ and several of Philippa Gregory's other novels, this is by far the best. As other reviewers have mentioned, the three readers each do a marvelous job of reading the narratives of Jane Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard, women that I (as a Tudor scholar) have longed to know more about. Her take on the motivation of Lady Rochford, who gave access to Katherine's lovers, is plausible, especially given the psychological insights and familial pressures that the novel provides.

I can't wait for Gregory's next novel (_The Other Queen_, about Mary, Queen of Scots), due out in Spring 2008.

Very interesting and well read

This was a very enjoyable book to listen too. I was captivated by the different personalities and thoughts of the three main characters which were expressed so well by each reader. I would definitely recommend this audio book to a friend.

Very entertaining!

Loved all the characters which were beautifully narrated and quite entertaining.

terrific!!

This was a wonderful audiobook. The three narrators brought the characters to life in a way that reading the book could never accomplish. Excellent in every way.

Truly The Boleyn Inheritance

I highly enjoyed the three person narrative. It wasn't confusing and it gave different POVs on the same situation, which was really interesting.

I really felt for Anne of Cleves. Her home life was a shambles and she wanted out. But unfortunately she went from one mad house to another. I don't think it was fair of Henry to call her stupid and ugly. She's the true voice in the novel. I was really impressed with her decision to leave without a fight, and in doing so ended up with more than she would have elsewhere. Her decision to not go to court often saved her life. Stupid she was not.

Katherine Howard. My, my, my. She would be sweet if she wasn't so outwardly stupid, and 85% inwardly stupid. Though she could tell the truth about Henry, and kept it to herself, she was just...boring a bit to me. I think Gregory wanted to portray her as not as stupid as everyone says, but even the glimpses of intelligence were short lived by her pushing them out for shiny things.

Jane Parker, Boleyn, Rochford; Lady Rochford. I didn't like her in The Other Boleyn Girl at all. I found her nosy, simple and annoying. In this not so much. Most of the book she seemed sincere about being sorry for giving testimony against Anne and George Boleyn. But in her memories she stills holds on to the idea of them being lovers in a slight way. It wasn't until the end of the book when she truly showed her colours. No matter how much she may delude herself into think she's an OK person in the end she's not. She truly is a liar, schemer, malicious, evil person. I should mention she's also selfish. I truly think she has a touch of madness, but only because she brought it on herself.

This is a really good book.

Wonderful, engaging, well-written

This book held my attention from the first syllable. I have listened to other Gregory books, but this one is by far her best work, it's very plot-focused, and wonderfully complex. Plus the three different narrators are enjoyable to listen to and very good at their characters. It seems like the writing for this book is more sharp and alive than in other Gregory books, a welcome change.

My first Philippa Gregory book...

This was my first Philippa Gregory book and I thought it was very good. It brought historical events together with some great character development. I have done a little bit of study on Henry VIII and it was great to see such an in-depth and believable focus on his 4th and 5th wives as they are so often ignored. Very interesting characters and approach... I was pleasantly surprised.

I wish it hadn't been abridged

I have high praise for this story and the 3 narrators, but was disappointed to discover that it had been abridged when I thought I had purchased unabridged. The rating would be 5 stars for unabridged.