While my first copy of this book is out on a book ring, I found another at Unicorn Thrift Shop in San Jose and thought it'd be great to pick it up. My brother would like to read it, and now I have a back-up should my initial book fail to return home.

I really enjoyed this book! I was a bit worried when I saw it described as a 'romance' novel than a 'literature/fiction' book - what if I'd just picked up an average bodice ripper? But this book turned out to be very enjoyable, because I love historical fiction and this was replete with references to the history as documented at the time.
The characters seem a bit weak at times, I admit, with Anne being one of the biggest b*tches to walk the face of the planet and Mary seeming absolutely spineless for much of the book. A random detail from history - the report of Anne having a 6th finger - is omitted - I wonder if that has been proven to be erroneous, or was it removed merely to make Anne seem more attractive than ever? The odd relationship between the three siblings is touching and sometimes a bit disturbing - little surprise Henry used incest as one of the charges against the Boleyn family when they fell out of favor.
The court intrigue was fascinating and horrible - all these young girls with virtually no say in their lives dwelled in the palace with the Queen as her handmaids, and their families expected them to seduce the King out from under her nose. That is horrible. I feel so sorry for both the Queen, who has to be on the guard to be betrayed by friends, and the girls who likewise betray a woman they admire, possibly for a man they have no attraction to. Thank God courts like that have since disappeared and such practices are not common anymore.

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Publisher's Weekly: Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir. Rather than settling for a picturesque rendering of court life, Gregory conveys its claustrophobic, all-consuming nature with consummate skill. In the end, Anne's famous, tragic end is offset by Mary's happier fate, but the self-defeating folly of the quest for power lingers longest in the reader's mind.

Currently on loan to my brother, laotahn.

My sister gave me this book very recently, I hope to enjoy it immensely.

Reclaimed from my brother's bookshelves because he has too many books. When he gets a chance to read this, he knows where he can find it :)

On loan to my co-worker Melissa.

Rec'd back today.

Sadly, despite having the book for over half a year Melissa never read this. Le sigh. Too bad - if she'd given it a chance I'm sure she would have loved it.

Lending to my sidekick Jeannie; we saw Philippa Gregory speak up in San Rafael about a week ago and now Jeans wants to try out her books.