The Boleyn Inheritance

King Henry VIII, fat, ill, and suspicious of everyone, still desires their attention and love. Alternating diary entries of Jane Boleyn (sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn), Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard describe the king and life in court, including the many potential political pitfalls. Dagmara Dominczyk brings the conniving Jane Boleyn to life, showing first her determination to spy for the Duke of Norfolk, then her attempts to disentangle herself from deceit. Bianca Amato characterizes Anne of Cleves as a naïve woman with a soft German accent who bows to everyone's demands. Ruthie Henshall portrays Katherine Howard, the empty-headed teenager who counts her good luck AND her dresses as she becomes Henry's lover, then his wife. As Gregory depicts the three women, the narrators entice listeners to follow each one to the end of her tangled story. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from August 7, 2006
Returning to the scene of The Other Boleyn Girl
, historical powerhouse Gregory again brings the women of Henry VIII's court vividly to life. Among the cast, who alternately narrate: Henry's fourth wife, Bavarian-born Anne of Cleves; his fifth wife, English teenager Katherine Howard; and Lady Rochford (Jane Boleyn), the jealous spouse whose testimony helped send her husband, Thomas, and sister-in-law Anne Boleyn to their execution. Attended by Lady Rochford, 24-year-old Anne of Cleves endures a disastrous first encounter with the twice-her-age king—an occasion where Henry takes notice of Katherine Howard. Gregory beautifully explains Anne of Cleves's decision to stay in England after her divorce, and offers contemporary descriptions of Lady Rochford's madness. While Gregory renders Lady Rochford with great emotion, and Anne of Cleves with sympathy, her most captivating portrayal is Katherine, the clever yet naïve 16th-century adolescent counting her gowns and trinkets. Male characters are not nearly as endearing. Gregory's accounts of events are accurate enough to be persuasive, her characterizations modern enough to be convincing. Rich in intrigue and irony, this is a tale where readers will already know who was divorced, beheaded or survived, but will savor Gregory's sharp staging of how and why.

A trio of narrators views Henry VIII's mid-life, measuring the results of Ann Boleyn's recklessness. Davina Porter employs tight, bitter tones for her recounting of dissatisfied courtier Jane Boleyn, 30-year-old widow of the beheaded brother of Ann. Bianca Amato is Queen Anne of Cleves, Henry's newest wife. Her controlled, steady voice reflects her stringent upbringing and the tension of facing a foreign court without knowledge of language or culture. There is a tone of mournful loneliness as she fears rejection, inquiry, and death, and a strength after she's sent from court and recognizes "the spark that is uniquely me." Charlotte Parry 's Katherine Howard is a lilting, bubbly animation of a silly teenager who lives only for gowns, dancing, and flirting and who dies with a high-strung hysteria. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine