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octavia_cade 's review for:

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
4.0

I really enjoyed this. Henry's wives have always been more interesting to me than Henry himself, and Anne of Cleves is my favourite wife, so it was good to see a book so focused on her. What bumped this up to four stars for me, though, was the truly excellent treatment given to Katherine Howard, who I've frequently dismissed (with justification, it must be said) as a total airhead. But Gregory has given her a voice so compelling, so realistically shallow and good-natured and ignorant, that it was a positive pleasure to read about her, poor girl. Just fantastic characterisation.