The Other Boleyn Girl is a book about Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn and mistress of King Henry VIII. The story begins in Spring of 1521 and ends in May of 1536 with the execution of Anne after her brief stint as Queen. This is the first book from the perspective of the Boleyn sisters; so far they’ve only been referenced as villains in other women’s stories. The sisters, Mary much more so than Anne, come across in a sympathetic light.

When the story begins, Katheryn of Aragon is still queen and is failing to produce a male heir. Henry already has one illegitimate son he has acknowledged and is looking to sire more. The Howard family – of which the Boleyn’s are a branch – seeks to put Mary in his view to gain influence. Anne is with her to support her in her quest. Both sisters are in service to the queen, while trying to seduce her husband.

Mary Boleyn

Mary Boleyn ranks high on the list of sympathetic characters in Gregory’s pantheon so far, perhaps at the top. She is a very passive character, much like Anne Neville and Margaret Pole, never attaining much authority or power for herself. Her family treats her like a pawn in their game of power around the king with no empathy or care for her. In one scene, when Mary expresses a desire to return to their family lands to be with her child, her mother wonders why she would do so, declaring she had never shown such affection for her own children. As the reader, I’m not surprised.

What little support she has comes from her two siblings, George and Anne. George offers sympathy enough to keep her moving with the family’s plots, but never enough to protect Mary from them. Anne offers advice to win the attention of the king, proving to be a fairly sage advisor. Yet the three never forget they are plotters for the Howard family, and that knowledge colors their entire relationship.

I found myself hating the position Mary was in, while hoping she would find enough strength to pull herself out of it. She is commanded to betray her first husband to seduce the king. She is forced to betray the queen – a woman she has tremendous respect for – to bear the children the queen cannot. What’s worse is what happens when she’s ultimately successful and bears Henry two illegitimate children. Her family benefits from her success, and Anne becomes the focus of Henry’s attention, while Mary is cast aside by both king and family without a second thought by either. She becomes the other Boleyn girl.

Anne Boleyn

This is the first book in which Anne Boleyn is a major character. Through Mary’s eyes, she sometimes provokes sympathy, and other times outrage.

As both Mary and Anne are pawns in the family game, there are shared experiences. Mary provides Anne with intelligence with how to keep Henry interested and excited without getting into bed with him. Mary sees Anne’s exhaustion in private and provides her with emotional support. It is hard to read about Anne’s efforts without feeling at least some sympathy for her.

At the same time, Anne knows that her star is ascendant over Mary’s, and never lets Mary forget it. She takes Mary’s support for granted, even as she does nothing to help. In one instance, when Anne is informing Mary of all the titles and lands she’s managed to win over for their family, Mary asks if anything is coming her way. Anne dismisses her request as irrelevant, as she is only the other Boleyn girl. She even goes so far as to take custody of Mary and Henry’s son, as much to secure her position in Henry’s court as to prove her superiority over her sister.  

`Anne wins her crown. King Henry divorces Katherine and locks her away. Anne is crowned queen, `though London is disturbingly silent at her coronation. All she has to do now is produce an heir, which is easier said than done.

Here I once again found myself sympathizing with Anne. Modern science tells us a lot about how children are conceived and carried to term, but in the 16th Century there was a lot of religious belief mixed in with both. Anne bore only one child, a daughter (Queen Elizabeth), and has several miscarriages. In King Henry’s court, this was seen as a sign of sin, either due to the conspiring of Anne or due to darker acts. As much as Anne was an antagonist to Mary, to see her heading to an end caused by factors beyond her knowledge and control was difficult.

Mary’s survival and Anne’s fall

Mary survives because she, finally, rebels against her family. Her first husband dead, she falls in love with a man in the service of her uncle, William Stafford. After secret courting, Mary chooses to run with him and marry in secret, returning in time for the coronation of her sister. They keep the secret for almost a year, and are banished when found out, at least until Anne becomes pregnant again and sends for Mary.

Mary, without the influence of her family and away from court, finds life enjoyable. She worked on the farm with her husband, bore another child, worked with her hands. She was happy.

Anne does not have a happy ending. The protections Henry destroyed to remove Queen Katherine no longer remained to protect Anne, and she is one of many taken and accused to incest and witchcraft, along with George. Historians generally agree this was a trumped-up excuse, but the book hints there to be some truth to the charges. The family leaves both siblings to be executed.

Mary survives because her act of finding happiness – putting herself before her family – removed her enough from Anne’s schemes that she was hunted. William kept her from coming forward and out of danger. The two focused instead on getting the first two children out of danger. With Anne’s execution, her hold on the children is severed and Mary has her family back.

Conclusion

The Other Boleyn Girl has two dynamic characters interacting with each other. Mary, the passive pawn whose rebellion eventually leads to her survival, and Anne, the committed strategist who plays her part to the end. Both women elicit sympathy for the game they are forced to play from a young age, and for the toxic family they grew up in. Both elicit disdain for their actions as part of the family plan.

What I like most about the book is how both character’s fates are tied to their response to the game. Mary, upset over how she’s treated by her family, rebels against the family’s plan and is ultimately saved. Anne, an expert manipulator when she can control Henry, falls victim to intrigue when she cannot. Mary stops playing and wins; Anne keeps playing and loses.

I rate this as one of the better books in the series. I get to see a sympathetic character survive (unlike Anne Neville and Margaret Pole) to have a happy ending. It has not been a common ending in the series, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.