The Other Boleyn Girl

By: Philippa Gregory

Narrated by: Vanessa Kirby

The #1 New York Times bestseller from “the queen of royal fiction” (USA TODAY) and the author of Boleyn Traitor Philippa Gregory is a rich, compelling novel of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue surrounding the Tudor court of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the infamous Boleyn family.

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of the handsome and charming 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 soon she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. With her own destiny suddenly unknown, Mary realizes that she must defy her family and take fate into her own hands.

With more than one million copies in print and adapted for the big screen, The Other Boleyn Girl is a riveting historical drama. It brings to light a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe, and survived a treacherous political landscape by following her heart.

Historical inaccuracies aside, this is a treat.

Vanessa Kirby should become a full-time narrator; I’ve enjoyed her reading of ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ as much as I love Kate Winslet’s ‘Matilda.’ Both she and Winslet have voices made for audiobooks; both she and Winslet are quintessentially English.

Kirby’s interpretation of each character is utterly wonderful and captivating, especially the two leads, Anne and Mary Boleyn: Mary’s sweetness to Anne’s acidic intelligence.

The book itself is one of my favorites, although I’m a Tudor buff and have a hard time ignoring the inaccuracies and outright lies. I love Philippa Gregory’s works because she’s a good writer (she is) and in spite of her apparent status as a historian (she isn’t).

great book

great book, good storyline well written, and the narrator does a good job as well. I'm a history lover, so I have to remind myself that the author has the right to take a little creative liberty but overall very good

Great story, but a bit long!

At first I couldn’t put the book down. Such a good story, but then I thought when will it finish. Overall great read!

Historical?

If this was not supposed to be an “historical” novel it would rate a 5. Well read.

Excellent narration

This book was a bit longer than it needed to be because it was very slow and predictable at times. But it remained interesting enough to keep me listening—especially because the narrator was so talented!