Part 72 (1/2)

Catherine slept for all that day and all that night, and when she awoke, William had the horses ready and she was on her horse before she could protest. We rode to the river and took a s.h.i.+p downriver to Leigh. She ate while we were on board. Henry beside her. I had my baby on my hip, watching my two older children, thanking G.o.d that we were out of the city and that, if we were lucky and kept our wits about us, we might escape notice in the new reign.

Jane Seymour had chosen her wedding clothes on the day that they executed my sister. I did not even blame her for that. Anne, or I, would have done the same thing. When Henry changed his mind he always changed it fast, and it was a wise woman who went with him and did not oppose him. Even more so now that he had divorced one faultless wife and beheaded another. Now he knew his power.

Jane would be the new queen and her children, when she had them, would be the next princes or princesses. Or she might wait, as the other queens had waited, every month, desperate to know that she had conceived, knowing each month that it did not happen that Henry's love wore a little thinner, that his patience grew a little shorter. Or Anne's curse of death in childbed, and death to her son, might come true. I did not envy Jane Seymour. I had seen two queens married to King Henry and neither of them had much joy of it.

And as for us Boleyns, my father was right, all we could do now was survive. My uncle had lost a good hand with the death of Anne. He had thrown her onto the gaming table just as he had thrown me or Madge. Whether a girl was fit for seduction or a sop for the king's rage, or even to aim at the highest place in the land, he would always have another Howard girl at the ready. He would play again. But we Boleyns were destroyed. We had lost our most famous girl, Queen Anne, and we had lost George, our heir. And Anne's daughter Elizabeth was a n.o.body, worth even less than the despised Princess Mary. She would never be called princess again. She would never sit on the throne.

”I'm glad of it,” I said simply to William as the children slept, rocked by the movement of the boat on the ebbing tide. ”I want to live in the country with you. I want to bring up our children to love each other and fear G.o.d. I want to find some peace now, I have had enough of playing the great game at court. I have seen the price that has to be paid and it is too high. I just want you. I just want to live at Rochford and love you.”

He put his arm around me and held me close to him against the cold wind that blew steadily off the sea. ”It's agreed,” he said. ”Your part in this is done, please G.o.d.” He looked forward to where my two children were in the prow of the boat, looking downriver to the sea, swaying with the rhythmic beat of the oars. ”But those two? They'll be sailing upriver again, back to court and power, sometime in their lives.”

I shook my head in protest.

”They're half Boleyn and half Tudor,” he said. ”My G.o.d, what a combination. And their cousin Elizabeth the same. n.o.body can say what they will do.”

Author's Note

Mary and William Stafford did live a long and happy life at Rochford. When her parents died (in 1538 and 1539), Mary inherited the whole of the Boleyn family holdings in Ess.e.x, and she and William became wealthy landowners.

She died in 1543 and her son, Henry Carey, rose to become a major advisor and courtier at the court of his cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, the greatest queen England ever had. She made him Viscount Hunsdon. Mary's daughter Catherine married Sir Francis Knollys and founded a great Elizabethan dynasty.

I am indebted to Retha M. Warnicke, whose book The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn has been a most helpful source for this story. I have followed Warnicke's original and provocative thesis that the h.o.m.os.e.xual ring around Anne, including her brother George, and her last miscarriage created a climate in which the king could accuse her of witchcraft and perverse s.e.xual practices. has been a most helpful source for this story. I have followed Warnicke's original and provocative thesis that the h.o.m.os.e.xual ring around Anne, including her brother George, and her last miscarriage created a climate in which the king could accuse her of witchcraft and perverse s.e.xual practices.

I am very grateful to the following authors, whose books helped me to trace the otherwise untold story of Mary Boleyn, or provided background for the period: Bindoff, S. T. Pelican History of England: Tudor England. Pelican History of England: Tudor England. Penguin, 1993. Penguin, 1993.

Bruce, Marie Louise. Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn. Collins, 1972. Collins, 1972.

Cressy, David. Birth, Marriage and Death, Ritual Religions and the Life-cycle in Tudor and Stuart England. Birth, Marriage and Death, Ritual Religions and the Life-cycle in Tudor and Stuart England. OUP, 1977. OUP, 1977.

Darby, H. C. A New Historical Geography of England before 1600. A New Historical Geography of England before 1600. CUP, 1976. CUP, 1976.

Elton, G.R. England under the Tudors. England under the Tudors. Methuen, 1955. Methuen, 1955.

Fletcher, Anthony. Tudor Rebellions. Tudor Rebellions. Longman, 1968. Longman, 1968.

Guy, John. Tudor England. Tudor England. OUP, 1988. OUP, 1988.

Haynes, Alan. s.e.x in Elizabethan England. s.e.x in Elizabethan England. Sutton, 1997. Sutton, 1997.

Loades, David. The Tudor Court. The Tudor Court. Batsford, 1986. Batsford, 1986.

---. Henry VIII and his Queens. Henry VIII and his Queens. Sutton, 2000. Sutton, 2000.

Mackie, J. D. Oxford History of England, The Earlier Tudors. Oxford History of England, The Earlier Tudors. OUP, 1952. OUP, 1952.

Plowden, Alison. Tudor Women, Queens and Commoners. Tudor Women, Queens and Commoners. Sutton, 1998. Sutton, 1998.

Randell, Keith. Henry VIII and the Reformation in England. Henry VIII and the Reformation in England. Hodder, 1993. Hodder, 1993.

Scarisbrick, J. J. Yale English Monarchs: Henry VIII. Yale English Monarchs: Henry VIII. YUP, 1997. YUP, 1997.

Smith, Baldwin Lacey. A Tudor Tragedy, the Life and Times of Catherine Howard. A Tudor Tragedy, the Life and Times of Catherine Howard. Cape, 1961. Cape, 1961.

Starkey, David. The Reign of Henry VIII, Personalities and Politics. The Reign of Henry VIII, Personalities and Politics. G. Philip, 1985. G. Philip, 1985.

---. Henry VIII: A European Court in England. Henry VIII: A European Court in England. Collins and Brown, 1991. Collins and Brown, 1991.

Tillyard, E. M. W. The Elizabethan World Picture. The Elizabethan World Picture. Pimlico, 1943. Pimlico, 1943.

Turner, Robert. Elizabethan Magic. Elizabethan Magic. Element, 1989. Element, 1989.

Warnicke, Retha M. The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn. The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn. CUP, 1991. CUP, 1991.

Weir, Alison. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Pimlico, 1997. Pimlico, 1997.

Touchstone Reading Group Guide The Other Boleyn Girl

DISCUSSION POINTS.

1. Why does Philippa Gregory choose Mary to narrate the story? Keeping in mind the relations.h.i.+p between the observer and those observed, is Mary a good, trustworthy, narrator? As Mary ages, how is her loss of innocence reflected in her telling of the story?

2. Look at the exchange between Mary and her mother at the end of the first chapter. How does the author foreshadow what is to come? How do the events of the first chapter frame the entire story?

3. Discuss the Boleyn family's scheming and jockeying for favor in the court. In light of these politics, discuss the significance of Mary's explanation that she had ”a talent for loving [the king]” (page 119). Is this simply a girl's fantasy? Why does Mary call herself and George ”a pair of pleasant snakes” (page 131)?

4. On page 29, Mary professes her love and admiration for Queen Katherine and feels she can't betray her. In what ways are her honorable ideals compromised as she embarks on her adulterous affair with the king? Recount the whirlwind of events preceding Anne's becoming queen. Reading page 352, do you agree that ”from start to finish” Mary ”had no choice” but to betray Queen Katherine by taking the queen's letter to her uncle?

5. Consider pages 38 and 82. How does the author create s.e.xual tension? How do the narrator's thoughts and feelings communicate the attraction between her and the king? Why is this important to the story of The Other Boleyn Girl? The Other Boleyn Girl?

6. On page 85, Anne tells Mary, ”I am happy for the family. I hardly ever think about you.” Do you think she's telling the truth? Later, Anne says to her sister, ”We'll always be nothing to our family” (page 310). Do you think she believes this, especially given her overwhelming desire to advance her own status?

7. Why does Mary say, ”I felt like a parcel...” (page 60)? What happens later to make Mary think she's no longer a ”p.a.w.n” of the family, but ”at the very least, a castle, a player in the game” (page 173)?

8. Look at the exchange between Mary and Anne about the king on page 72. Do you agree with Anne when she tells Mary that ”you can't desire [the king] like an ordinary man and forget the crown on his head.” What does this statement reveal about Anne's nature? And what does it reveal about Mary's?

9. In general, what are your impressions of the sisters? Keep in mind Anne and Mary's discussion on page 104: ”So who would come after me?...I could make my own way.” Also look at page 123, when Anne says, ”Hear this, Mary...I will kill you.” Why are these statements significant, particularly given their timing?

10. Share some of the characteristics that you like about historical fiction. For you, what aspect of The Other Boleyn Girl The Other Boleyn Girl stands out the most? How does the book change your impressions of life in King Henry VIII's court? Looking at the letter on page 275, discuss the level of corruption in the court. Does it surprise you? Were you aware of Anne's dogged and exhausting pursuit of the king? Did the way Anne became queen shock you? stands out the most? How does the book change your impressions of life in King Henry VIII's court? Looking at the letter on page 275, discuss the level of corruption in the court. Does it surprise you? Were you aware of Anne's dogged and exhausting pursuit of the king? Did the way Anne became queen shock you?

11. How do you feel about the idea that a woman had to be married before she could bed the king? What do you think about the king changing the laws to suit his needs? When Anne states that ”Nothing will ever be the same for any woman in this country again,” examine why she could believe she would be exempt from the same treatment. In other words, why didn't she realize that ”when she overthrew a queen that thereafter all queens would be unsteady” (page 519)? Do you think the family realized this but persevered anyway?