Ciska's Book Chest

AuthorPhilippa Gregory was born in Kenya. She is a former student of Sussex University and receive a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 of Edinburgh University, her love for history and her commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing.Her other great interest is the charity she founded nearly twenty years ago; Gardens for The Gambia. Gregory lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire, where she keeps horses, hens and ducks.ReviewThe Other Boleyn Girl is one of the most popular historical fiction books about the Boleyn ladies out there I guess. It was a book I have heard about for years already but never picked up. This time I decided I would give it a go as it fits in both my Bingo reading challenge and my big books reading challenge. After finishing The Constant Princess two months ago I was pretty sure I was going to like this book due to the writing style. Philippa Gregory is a master in setting atmosphere. I really got the feeling I was sitting in a window in the castle seeing all those people pass me. Like a little spy. With the characters I had more problems. Though getting angry and upset with characters does mean I am involved it often makes me dislike a book a bit more. First thing that disturbed me is the way Mary was set up to become lovers with the king. Second .. that uncle.. I could have killed him, would have killed him and after the way Anne took over everything and how history repeats. Though I do know this is fiction it is based on partly true stories I had a hard time to convince myself that this behavior was probably normal or accepted up to a certain level in that period. Due to that annoyance the book took me a bit longer to read than I had expected.