Highly recommend the audio version of this book!

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	• The Boleyn Inheritance [Audio Cd] [Unabridged] [Cd] Philippa Gregory, 2006 average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Your Head will Roll.

This is a review on the audio book version of The Boleyn Inheritance. Read by three different women.

This is the story of Anne of Cleves, Jane Boleyn, and Katherine Howard. Having read all of the other Phillipa Gregory books (The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn girl, The Queens Fool, and The Virgin's Lover) I already knew the story surrounding King Henry the VIII court. This book, which goes back before The Queens Fool and The Virgins Lover to the time after Anne Boleyn's beheading and the death of Jane Seymour, to Henry's 4th Wife Anne of Cleves who was a German girl, supposedly very plain and pretty much unworthy of Henry's advances. It also is about Jane Boleyn the widow of George Boleyn the brother of Anne who was executed for treason. And Katherine Howard a girl of 16 years, cousin to the Boleyn's, who catches Henry's eye at court and eventually becomes his fifth wife after he annuls his marriage to Anne of Cleves.

All three women are coming from a different place in court, and all three go through so many changes throughout the book. Having three different women read this was an amazing idea, and worked out very well. Anne has a German accent, Jane is calm and collected and Katherine is as giddy and immature as a 16 year old is supposed to be.

The Boleyn Inheritance, for each woman, is different. Anne inherits the duties of being queen to a King that is no longer handsome and virile, he is now fat and sick and quite mad with power. Jane inherits her dead husbands and dead sister in laws duties of progressing the family name and fortune not knowing of course that her own neck is on the line, and Katherine inherits the bad fortune of being just another pawn in her families game. I couldn't imagine going into a marriage, as Anne of Cleves did, knowing that 3 wives before you are dead and your husband has the power to anytime pronounce you either a witch or traitor and off goes your head! Thank god she escapes the block, and quite literally remains untouched by the stench of Henry's heavy hand. Jane, on the other hand, gets what is coming to her having betrayed her own flesh and blood to save her own neck; she eventually loses it in the end anyway. Poor Katherine, or Kitty Howard has the brains of a gnat and a libido of a horny rabbit, she follows her hormones right onto the executioners axe. Henry, who we got to know in earlier books as a handsome brilliant and lively young king has turned into a festering obese impotent old king and he has the habit of covering his own faults by pronouncing people treacherous. The mans legacy is written in blood, and his only good doing was fathering the princess Elizabeth who later revives England into its golden age.

I completely recommend anyone who loves Phillipa Gregory, The Tudors, or just a really good read to pick this book up, in audio form or paperback. Its worth your time!

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Highly recommend the audio version of this book!

I read "The Other Boleyn Girl" and loved it. I then listened to "The Queen's Fool" and now "The Boleyn Inheritance" on audio disc. I would have to say I enjoyed "The Boleyn Inheritance" the most of all three, perhaps because of the fantastic performances of the three women who perform it on audio. Philippa Gregory writes fascinating literature, and the performances of these women added even more drama, intrigue, and humor to her writing.

I particularly enjoyed the performance of the woman who played Catherine. But I was fascinated by the way the character of Jane Boleyn was written. She is portrayed somewhat sympathetically, yet all along I was thinking that she's completely out of touch with reality (based on her actions in "The Other Boleyn Girl"). I definitely felt that I was dropped right into the psyche of each of these women.

Highly recommend both the content and the audio performances.

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Scary Harry!!!!!!

Rather than reading this book myself, I was treated to the performance of three different actresses who took the part of a main character in the court of Henry VIII from the years 1540-1542. Each reader is skillful in portraying the excitement, fright, confusion, and repulsion of her own story with the king. The voice of Kathryn Howard is delightful in her shallowness, self-centeredness, and teenage exuberance of first love. These women do a marvelous job of interpreting the characters. I got much more out of the book than if I'd read it in my own voice or chosen the abridged edition....too many important details omitted.
Politics were much more dangerous then and the chance of losing your head was very real. Which of these women will go from a secluded, ho-hum life in the country to the excitement and wealth of the court of Henry VIII? Which will be expected to "service" a fat, old, smelly, bad-tempered husband, King HenryVIII? Which will be tricked by the sneaky court advisors? Which will end up executed and which will escape? Which will believe the king has lost his mind? And what IS the Boleyn inheritance: Is it the wealth, land, power, beautiful clothes, parties and great castles, maids to wait upon every command, or is it death by execution?

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17 Hours 38 Minutes, unabridged on 14 compact disks.