‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ (Scribner, 2001, 661 pages), by Philippa Gregory

“You can smile when your heart is breaking because you’re a woman.” — Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

Many of us are familiar with the story of King Henry VIII and his six wives. Countless authors, artists, playwrights and historians have explored the period of Henry Tudor’s reign in their work, attempting to discover the personalities of these characters whose deeds are so well known. In The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory — who has written several novels pertaining to England’s royalty — tells the story of the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn from the point of view of her sister, Mary. Though the book is not always factually accurate, the tale told to many of us in high school history classes is the perfect backdrop for the characters that Gregory vibrantly brings to life.

Meet the three Boleyn children: the charming George, whose desires are sin in the eye of the church, and his sisters Mary and Anne, who are two sides of the same coin. Mary is fair, open and kind, while Anne is mysterious and sexy, with a breathtaking wit. But both girls live in a man’s world, where their virtue and ability to bear children are the currency with which their family barters for power.

Gregory’s words lead the reader deep into a court of colorful revelry and idle pleasure, where, around feasts and closed doors and poems, a dance of seduction is choreographed, and one misstep can lead straight to the executioner’s block.

This is the story of two sisters — best friends as well as rivals — who both catch the eye of a king who wants an heir. It is also the story of a girl whose heart is broken both by ambition and by the man who tears apart a country with his desire for her. And most of all, this is the story of a woman who falls in love in a time when having such feelings means almost nothing at all.

Hannah Laga Abram will be a junior at the Santa Fe Waldorf School. Contact her at ceciliasycamore@gmail.com.