Customer Reviews
The real story is better. - By: Rebecca Harmer, 18 Jun 2008 
I picked up 'The Other Boleyn Girl' expecting at least some degree of historical accuracy but ended up getting a rediculously farcical story that does not stick to the true complexities of Tudor court life.
What worries me most about Philipa Gregory is that her popularity and, admittedly excellent story-telling, have ended up spreading a totallly incorrect version of British history across the globe when actuallly, the real story behind the Boleyn Girls is exciting enough anyway!
I've read some of her other books & was concerned to find that actuallly 'The Other Boleyn Girl' is relatively truthful compared to novels such as 'The Constant Princess' which is full of blatent lies!
She should stick to story-telling & stop messing with our already spellbinding & gripping historical adventures.
A very good read - By: B. Harkin, 12 Jun 2008 
This is the first Philippa Gregory novel that I have read & I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were brought to life on the page as was the Tudor court & the people who graced it. I will be reading more from Ms Gregory's pen.
Refreshing despite the errors - By: ajk77, 04 Jun 2008 
So many novels on this period & serious historian press home the foolishness of Mary compared with the more successful Anne that it is nice to read a tale that points out that an ordinary marriage & kids might be preferable to glamour & the block.
Good book.....but - By: Monty, 24 May 2008 
...I wish I hadn't been given the newest edition with the movie cover. I couldn't get the image of Natalie Portman & Scarlett Johannson out of my mind when reading The Other Boleyn Girl & it took the edge off things a bit because they were nothing like I wanted to 'see' them in my mind.
That aside.....The story is a fascinating one & Ms Gregory has breathed life into alll the characters for me. It's made me hungry for more. I've trawled the web these last couple of days reading everything I can find on the Tudors. My existing knowledge of Henry VIII was limited to schoolgirl history & I only wish I'd had this book, back in the day when History was on my timetable. You know it's a good book when you seek out any little bit of info on the web that relates to the story you've just read.
I'm reallly amazed though, at the negative reviews here, which site 'inaccuracy' as the reason to give 1 or 2 stars. It's a work of fiction. The characters were real people, but Historical Fiction is just that - Fiction in an Historical setting.
I can't believe people are saying it's a terrible book because it's not 100% accurate. It's fiction. If anyone is looking for 100% Historical accuracy, perhaps a work of non-fiction would suit better?
As a work of fiction, it's a good book.
My only advice is.......don't buy the movie cover edition if you can help it. Unless Ms Portman & Ms Johannson are your exact idea of Mary & Anne Boleyn.
Loved every word of this book.... - By: Suzannah Reid, 22 May 2008 This is one of the first books I've read on this subject & I loved it. I enjoyed every moment I spent reading this book & was quite sad when it was alll over, so I'm buying the rest of the Tudor Court series very soon.
The story is very well written & well paced as so keep you interested alll of the way through without it feeling as though it is being rushed.
I would recommend this book to anyone reallly for the pure fact that it is so enthrallling & entertaining, you reallly feel like you're in the story with them.
Also...to alll the reviewers that complain & put this book down because it's not 'factuallly correct', go read a history text book or something. This is a work of fiction, it's meant to be entertaining! If every single story ever written was factuallly correct in every sense, there would never be any variation to them!
Enjoy this book for what it is - a thoroughly good, entertaining read!
