The Boleyn bride by Emily Purdy

At sixteen Elizabeth Howard hopes to become lady-in-waiting to the new Spanish queen, Catherine Of Aragon. But her ambitious father marries her to Thomas Boleyn, a low-born but rising star at court. Elizabeth loathes him but has no choice than to obey her family. The Howards are after all one of the most powerful noble families. The match will produce three children: beautiful Mary, beloved George and ugly duck Anne. All three of them will play a vital part in Engeland’s future, and Elizabeth herself will also catch king Henry’s eye.

I’ve set myself a goal to still write reviews of all the books I’ve read in the first half of 2020 (thus before I started this blog), with the exception of some last parts in a series. The Boleyn Bride was one of the oldest unread books sitting on my shelves. I bought it maybe 10 years ago at a book fair for 2 euros. There’s another edition of this book where the author’s name is Brandy Purdy instead of Emily by the way – it confused me also.

I had no high expectations of this book, knowing it would be another story about the dramatic rise and downfall of the Boleyn family. But I had hoped that the perspective of their mother Elizabeth Howard would provide an original point of view. Historians are still in doubt whether Elizabeth encouraged her daughters to enter the king’s bed or whether she was against it.

This is hard review to write because actually there is little I liked about ‘the Boleyn bride‘. The biggest problem is the characterization of Elizabeth herself. She’s a total bitch. Vain, selfish, ambitious and annoying. She has no love for her family or husband, not even for her children. Her constant hate of Thomas, whom she refers to as ‘Bullen, oh no Boleyn’ bored me to pieces.

The book covers her story all the way from her marriage to Thomas until Anne’s downfall, but the most important events are told in a few pages, a few lines even. The author finds it more interesting to talk about her love affair with Remi, a fictional character, or how Elizabeth tries to hide her wrinkles. Elizabeth complains about almost everything, except herself. She’s a very passive character and has no influence on what happens to first Mary, than Anne. As their mother she’s more a silent observer who just tells the reader what happens to her children. I found that most unconvincing.

I can see past a horrible main character, but the other characters are even worse. Thomas Boleyn is a devil, Anne ugly from the day she’s born, Mary is beautiful but stupid… There was nobody I cared for in this book. Only Catherine Of Aragon seems a good person, which is a bit strange as she and Elizabeth will not have been best friends if you know what happens…

Purdy also makes some serious historical errors or bad choices, especially with the timeline (Anne’s romance with Henry Percy for example is set wrong) or the whole thing about Anne having six fingers (for which there is no evidence whatsoever). I can understand why authors of historical fiction sometimes make changes to the timeline or choose to go with a certain story or legend, but in this novel it serves no purpose at all except making it more unbelievable.

I’m quite picky when it comes to Tudor fiction, since I’ve read a lot of novels about this period already and I am familiar with the historical facts. Especially with the Boleyns, I find it important to do them justice and I cringe with how some authors chose to represent them. So maybe you will enjoy a lighter story such as these and this book might work for you. But I won’t take up a next book from Emily/Brandy Purdy.

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Which book disappointed you most in 2020 so far?