The Other Boleyn Girl

A Novel

By: Philippa Gregory

Narrated by: Ruthie Henshall

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of 14, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.

A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.

©2001 Philippa Gregory Ltd (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc.

Critic reviews

"[A] fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great book!

This book is fantastic, and once again I wish it were not abridged. This is a great listen after "The Constant Princess", which is almost a continuation of the first story, but told by Mary Boleyn instead of Queen Catherine. I liked the narrator of this audiobook much more than the last one. I preferred Ann Boleyn to Mary in the beginning of the book. But you see the cruelness and blind ambition of Ann as the book goes on, and it is Mary who really grows up into a decent person even if she is a Howard-Boleyn by blood and breeding. I would recommend this book highly.

Excellent - but abridged

This book was thoroughly entertaining. The reader was excellent. I RARELY buy abridged audio books but this book was the monthly selection of my bookclub and I didn't want to attend without even knowing the plot. I am glad I listened to the book, but I can't help but wonder what I missed! I agree with an earlier post that Mary ended up being the most likeable of the Boleyn girls. If you like historical fiction, you will enjoy this book.

The Other Boleyn Girl

This version of audio for The Other Boleyn Girl is abridged with approx. 6 ½ hours of story. There is another version, unabridged, with approx.26 hours of story. Needless to say, the difference in time commitment to this story made the abridged version more appealing. The story started out pretty slow and was much different than the movie…I must say that the narrator did a great job considering the many different characters. I don’t know about you, but the narrator makes a huge difference for me and this one was excellent. By the end of the book, I wanted more, which for me is a sign of a great book. I would recommend this book, it’s definitely a fun listen.

Credit Worthy

This is written in a lively and believable voice. It definitely held my interest and imagination.

Interesting

Another reviewer suggested that I read "The Constant Princess" first, so I did. I loved it, and I loved The Other Boleyn Girl. I had never paid that much attention to Henry 8th before.

It got me watching The Tudors, a Showtime production and I'm totally hooked!

Very Intriguing!

This is a very well-crafted, interesting book. I would reccommend reading The Constant Princess first and then this book. It makes for a chronologically interesting story. Definitely worth the read.

wonderful ready

I have always been obsessed with the turdor period and it was nice to hear about Mary Boleyn and this is the book for it

movie was better

One star is stretching it

where is the rest of the story?!

The person reading it did not read the entire store. Huge disappointment! I wish I could get my money back.

it's the freaking abridged version

Waste of money if you're looking for the whole book. Make sure to really look at the info and not just the title. This popped up as a suggestion and didn't say abridged on the little tile.