The Other Boleyn Girl

Chatterbox · Post by **Chatterbox** » Fri May 8th, 2009, 1:37 am

Wealcere, that's probably about where it belongs in the list of priorities on the TBR pile!

SusannaG · Post by **SusannaG** » Thu June 25th, 2009, 10:43 pm

I enjoyed TOBG - strictly as fiction, though.

It's easily winning the "Best Books About Tudor England" voting on Listmania over at GoodReads.

I think the two of her novels I've liked best were Virgin Earth and The Boleyn Inheritance. Didn't think much of either Wildacre (couldn't finish the first volume) or The Queen's Fool.

Libby · Post by **Libby** » Fri June 26th, 2009, 8:10 pm

I had to stop part way through Wideacre as well. It was just too...well, weird.

I have the second and third books but haven't read them.

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Fri June 26th, 2009, 9:42 pm

[quote=""Libby""]I had to stop part way through Wideacre as well. It was just too...well, weird.

I have the second and third books but haven't read them.[/quote]

Yeah so did I. I second the weirdness in the book.

zsigandr · Post by **zsigandr** » Sat June 27th, 2009, 2:12 pm

I couldn't finish Wideacre either - too weird and I am not big on the whole incest thing.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Sat July 4th, 2009, 1:23 pm

I looked at the Philippa Gregory interview on the Harper Collins site and saw this comment by her about Anne Boleyn:

The other thing which we tend to loose sight of is her absolute criminal nature. She certainly conspired to poison an Archbishop, by chance he didn′t have the soup she poisoned but three men at his table died. So she was a woman who was quite prepared to take on murder as well as other crimes. I think that this has been a bit concealed because that′s not part of the Henry and Her story, so in a sense what I′ve done is widen the story.

I've read that Anne was accused of trying to poison various people, but is there any proof that she "certainly conspired" to do so? Any thoughts from the Tudor experts here?

trueblood · Post by **trueblood** » Sat September 5th, 2009, 5:41 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]I looked at the Philippa Gregory interview on the Harper Collins site and saw this comment by her about Anne Boleyn:

I've read that Anne was accused of trying to poison various people, but is there any proof that she "certainly conspired" to do so? Any thoughts from the Tudor experts here?[/quote]

I think it's debatable what actually constitutes 'certain involvement,' but I re-read a couple of works not long ago that mention facts about one of the suspicious incidents that Philippa must be referencing:the poisoning attempt against Fisher.

Besides the poison, there was the matter of gunshot reportedly fired from the earl of Wiltshire's residence across the Thames. Bernard describes the incidents in the King's Reformation: Henry VII and the Remaking of the English Church. I had the impression that Dr. Bernard believed Anne's brother or father (or the King himself!) were more likely culprits--though his reasons were not detailed. The events are described on page 110.

Maria Dowling, in Fisher of Men: a Life of John Fisher additionally mentions a veiled threat that Anne herself reportedly made to the clergyman, a message attempting to persuade him not to attend parliament lest he catch some sickness as he had before. Read page 143 for the full context and sources.

Hope that was helpful, although a very late reply.

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Sat September 5th, 2009, 7:02 pm

That poisoning incident was also featured in The Tudors, and the poor old cook ended up being boiled alive as he got the blame! Can't remember if the finger was pointed at Anne being behind this incident though.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Sat September 5th, 2009, 7:12 pm

Interesting, thanks, trueblood! It doesn't seem as if there's enough evidence for Gregory to charactize the proof against Anne as "absolute" and "certain," though.

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Sat September 5th, 2009, 8:26 pm

[quote=""trueblood""]

Besides the poison, there was the matter of gunshot reportedly fired from the earl of Wiltshire's residence across the Thames. Bernard describes the incidents in the King's Reformation: Henry VII and the Remaking of the English Church. I had the impression that Dr. Bernard believed Anne's brother or father (or the King himself!) were more likely culprits--though his reasons were not detailed. The events are described on page 110.
[/quote]

I think Uncle Howard should be included on the suspect list.

But I really like to imagine AB herself lining up the crosshairs like that girl in Nikita. Unlikely as it is.