Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king.

A rich and compelling novel of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her heart.When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king and take her fate into her own hands.

As a history buff and huge fan of Anne Boleyn, this novel made me sick. There is a limit as to how far a novelist can stretch the truth while writing historical fiction, and Gregory went too far. It is clear that Gregory did hardly any research on Anne Boleyn's character (as is evidence by the fact that she did not even consult THE biography on Anne, Eric Ives's book) and instead was too concerned with making Mary Boleyn out to be more important than she actually was to English history. Gregory unfortunately just reiterated the slanders that Anne Boleyn's character incurred after her execution by her Catholic enemies. It is sad that an author today could do so much disrespect to a historical figure in one novel. Furthermore, she cites Retha Warnicke's research as being her primary basis for the novel, yet after Warnicke heard this, she publicly distanced herself from the novel--mainly because Gregory misinterpreted Warnicke's theories completely. In my opinion, Gregory may as well have made up characters and kept the story she wrote, because she completely changes the personalities of these figures as we know them from the years of reasearch done by actual historians. I am all for using creative license to "fill in the gaps", but Gregory uses far too much license in this book, and instead changes the facts for her own interest--in order to make Anne appear as the horrible, manipulative sister, while Mary is an innocent victim of Anne's wrath. It is proposterous. For example, Gregory completely ignores Mary's behavior in France before she joined the Tudor court. Historians are pretty certain that she slept with the King of France, as well as others, during her time there. Gregory chooses to believe that Mary is a virgin when she comes to Henry, just to make her appear more innocent. Another example is Anne making Henry Carey her ward. She did this because Mary did not have enough money to give Henry a proper education, so Anne was helping her, and actually did an extremely nice thing by giving him such a good education. Gregory spins this to make it seem like Anne is stealing Henry from Mary--a ridiculous notion and quite the opposite of what actually happened.

Besides the switching around of facts, the book isn't even very well written. The characters are very black and white, as is true in most of Gregory's novels (one woman=good, other woman=bad). I would not recommend this book to anyone.. if I could give it a 0 star review, I would have.

The Other Boleyn Girl is the best piece of historical fiction that I've ever read; there were several nights when I couldn't put down the book and read until the early morning hours.

Historical fiction is not generally my preferred reading choice, but I thoroughly enjoyed Phillipa Gregory's portrayal of Henry VIII's court, the ambition of the Boleyn family, and the tragic demise of Anne Boleyn, the oldest of two sisters in the Boleyn family. The story is told by Anne's younger sister, Mary Boleyn, who was married off at the age of 13, became the king's mistress until he lost interest in her, and then after many years of being a pawn in her family's ambitious plan to rise to power, whatever the cost, began to make her own decisions.

Anne and Mary were both beautiful young women who were members of a powerful family that felt it could never have too much power or too much wealth. It was fascinating to read about the choices each of these women made along the way, and where their choices led them. It was also eye opening to read about what life was like for women in the 1500s.

The English court during Henry VIII's reign is a poignant reminder of what can happen when corruption and abuse of power dominate, no one is safe.

Even if you're not someone who typically reads historical fiction, read The Other Boleyn Girl. It will not disappoint!

This was purchased as a gift for a family member. It was easy to shop online and the item was a good value, which came quickly, and was well packaged.

This book has truly been one of the best books I've ever read. It is fast paced with a well-woven suspenseful plot with twists and turns. The complexity of the character's emotions, especially Mary Boleyn as the 1st person narrator, is extraordinary. Mary pulls you into her life and into the inner workings of her family and life in Henry VIII's court. While the story may be fictional, many details are historically accurate. After finishing this book, I went on to read a biography of Anne Boleyn and one on Henry VIII. I can't say enough good things about The Other Boleyn Girl, though. I breezed through all 600 pages in a matter of days because it was just that good!

There is quite a bit of raunchy in this one. Of course you have a good sister and a bad one. Lots of unexpected "bumps" along the way. Worth reading but the movie is nothing to compare. A book is always so much better.