History Literature / TheOtherBoleynGirl

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Anne pretty much personifies this as the story goes on. Yes, she becomes queen, but she doesn't enjoy it for long. The common people despise her, she's under enormous pressure from all sides to produce a male heir - which she continuously fails to do - other noble families constantly seek to supplant her with their own daughters, now that they've seen how relatively easy it is to unseat a queen, and once she's slept with Henry he loses interest in her relatively quickly, and eventually grows to resent and then hate her. But, as Mary bluntly tells her: "You chose to be queen. I warned you it wouldn't bring you joy."

* BittersweetEnding: Anne and George are dead, but Mary gets to live HappilyEverAfter with her husband, far away from the court (which is where she was always happier during the course of the story).
* BookEnds: The film starts and ends with three children playing in a meadow.
** The book does this too, with a different event; it begins and ends with a scene where Mary is attending a public execution, expecting the king to give a pardon out at the last minute. She's wrong both times.

* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: Mary Boleyn, the main protagonist and narrator, is thirteen years old at the beginning of the novel (she's twelve during the prologue) and it's made clear [[RRatedOpening right from the first page]] that it's not a kids' book when Mary witnesses the beheading of her uncle Stafford. Mary is [[DeliberateValuesDissonance already married]], becomes the king's mistress on [[QuestionableConsent her family's orders]] and later [[TeenPregnancy has children]] by him. The book features graphic sexual references and some disturbing scenes such as executions, Anne Boleyn's multiple miscarriages and stillbirths, possible incest, Mary's husband [[MaritalRapeLicense commanding her to sleep with him]] (he [[NearRapeExperience stops]] when he sees her discomfort, but still) and Mary suffering from post-partum depression.

* PleaseSpareHimMyLiege: Mary considers doing this to save Anne but her husband talks her out of it by pointing out that if she does, she'll likely share the fate of her siblings.

* StepfordSmiler: Everyone in court is this, and it is expressed several times in the novel.
** The most prominent example is when Mary has to dance with the king just after the birth of her son, when she is still bleeding from the birth, suffering from post-natal depression, and desperately misses her children. She describes her smile as 'gargoyle-like'.

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: The reaction to Queen Katherine's death from the king and almost the whole court.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Anne pretty much personifies this as the story goes on. Yes, she becomes queen, but she doesn't enjoy it for long. The common people despise her, she's under enormous pressure from all sides to produce a male heir - which she continuously fails to do - other noble families constantly seek to supplant her with their own daughters, and once she's slept with Henry he loses interest in her relatively quickly, and eventually grows to resent and then hate her. But, as Mary bluntly tells her: "You chose to be queen. I warned you it wouldn't bring you joy."

* BrotherSisterIncest: Between George and Anne. Well, maybe. It's left very vague as to what actually happened, though considering their unusual closeness and Anne's desperation for a son in the latter days of her marriage, it's at least possible. Both were accused of incest in real life, but it's dubious that they were really guilty.

* DecadentCourt: The Tudor Court has spies everywhere and is full of people scheming constantly to get the king's favour who will stab you in the back at a moment's notice. Your closest relatives think of you only as a pawn in a chess game, especially if you are a girl.
* DeathGlare: In one scene when Anne becomes jealous of the king flirting with other women, he looks at him "with a glare which would have frightened a lesser man".

** When Anne gives birth to Elizabeth instead of the son that Henry is desperate for, both she and her family are distraught and Anne's blamed for not having a boy; Anne herself says "What good is a girl to us?" Nowadays readers will know that ''Henry'' was responsible for the gender of his children, not his various wives; and that Elizabeth turned out to be the most successful member of the Tudor dynasty.

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: The reaction to Queen Katherine's death of the king and almost the whole court.

* OriginalPositionFallacy: Anne seems to have assumed that she would be able to maintain her role as the triumphant queen once she replaced Catherine of Aragon in the king’s affections. In truth, as soon as she ascends the throne, every noble family in England makes note that it can be done- and since Anne’s tactics to keep the king’s attention involved [[ForbiddenFruit being flirtatious while limiting their actual contact to the minimum]], she finds it difficult to maintain his interest [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving once he has her]].

** The author almost seems to have a personal grudge against Jane Parker. The sequel, ''Literature/TheBoleynInheritance'' takes this UpToEleven.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Between George and Anne. Well, maybe. It's left very vague as to what actually happened, though considering their unusual closeness and Anne's desperation for a son in the latter days of her marriage, it's at least possible. Both were accused of incest in real life, but it's unclear if they were really guilty.

The book was adapted into two movies: One released in 2003, starring Creator/NataschaMcElhone as Mary, Jodhi May as Anne and Creator/JaredHarris as Henry VII and the other in 2008, starring Creator/ScarlettJohansson, Creator/NataliePortman, and Creator/EricBana.

The book was [[Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl made into a movie]] in 2008, starring Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Mary, Creator/NataliePortman as Anne, and Creator/EricBana as Henry VIII.

''The Other Boleyn Girl'' is a HistoricalFiction novel written by British author Creator/PhilippaGregory, ''very'' loosely based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat Mary Boleyn. Reviews were mixed; some reviewers said it was a brilliantly claustrophobic look at palace life in Tudor England, while others have consistently pointed out the lack of historical accuracy[[note]]In Philippa Gregory's defence, when she was writing the book in 2000, Eric Ives' biography that revealed Anne was the younger sibling had ''not'' been released, so the birth order of Anne and Mary was unknown, hence the "change" in birth order of Anne and Mary.[[/note]]. Even so, it has enjoyed phenomenal success and popularity since its publication in 2002, and launched a [[FollowTheLeader new wave of Tudor-centric historical romances.]]

The book was [[TheFilmOfTheBook made into a movie]] in 2008, starring Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Mary, Creator/NataliePortman as Anne, and Creator/EricBana as Henry VIII.

The book was [[TheFilmOfTheBook made into a movie]] in 2008, starring Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Mary, Creator/NataliePortman as Anne, and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.

''The Other Boleyn Girl'' is a HistoricalFiction novel written by British author Creator/PhilippaGregory, ''very'' loosely based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat Mary Boleyn. Reviews were mixed; some reviewers said it was a brilliantly claustrophobic look at palace life in Tudor England, while others have consistently pointed out the lack of historical accuracy. Even so, it has enjoyed phenomenal success and popularity since its publication in 2002, and launched a [[FollowTheLeader new wave of Tudor-centric historical romances.]]

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Tudor Court has spies everywhere and is full of people scheming constantly to get the king's favour who will stab you in the back at a moment's notice. Your closest relatives think of you only as a pawn in a chess game, especially if you are a girl.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Between George and Anne. Well, maybe. It's left very vague as to what actually happened, though considering their unusual closeness and Anne's desperation in the latter days of her marriage, it's at least possible. Both were accused of incest in real life, but it's unclear if they were really guilty.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Between George and Anne. Well, maybe. It's left very vague as to what actually happened, though considered their unusual closeness, it's at least possible. Both were accused of incest, but it's unclear if they were really guilty.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Between George and Anne.
* BettyAndVeronica: Mary is Betty, Anne is Veronica. Anne is also the Veronica to Katherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour's Bettys.

* HeirClubForMen

** Played straight in the movie.

''The Other Boleyn Girl'' is a HistoricalFiction novel written by British author Creator/PhilippaGregory, loosely based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat Mary Boleyn. Reviews were mixed; some reviewers said it was a brilliantly claustrophobic look at palace life in Tudor England, while others have consistently pointed out the lack of historical accuracy. Even so, it has enjoyed phenomenal success and popularity since its publication in 2002, and launched a [[FollowTheLeader new wave of Tudor-centric historical romances.]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Anne pretty much personifies this as the story goes on. Yes, she becomes queen, but she doesn't enjoy it for long. The common people despise her, she's under enormous pressure from all sides to produce a male heir - which she continuously fails to do - other noble families constantly seek to supplant her with their own daughters, and once she's slept with Henry he loses interest in her relatively quickly, and eventually grows to resent and then hate her. But, as Mary bluntly tells her: "You wanted to marry a king. I warned you it wouldn't bring you joy."

* ThickerThanWater: Mary's love for her sister always overcomes their rivalry. The only people Anne can trust are her siblings Anne and George.

* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: Anne pretty much personifies this as the story goes on. Yes, she becomes queen, but she doesn't enjoy it for long. The common people despise her, she's under enormous pressure from all sides to produce a male heir - which she continuously fails to do - other noble families constantly seek to supplant her with their own daughters, and once she's slept with Henry he loses interest in her relatively quickly, and eventually grows to resent and then hate her. But, as Mary bluntly tells her: "You wanted to marry a king. I warned you it wouldn't bring you joy."

The book was [[TheFilmOfTheBook made into a movie]] in 2008, starring ScarlettJohansson as Mary, NataliePortman as Anne, and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.

* BettyAndVeronica: Mary is Betty, Anne is Veronica.

* ThickerThanWater: Mary's love for her sister always overcomes their rivalry. The only people Anne can trust is her siblings Anne and George.