The Other Boleyn Girl

How it reads

The Other Boleyn Girl is historical fiction (tudor court historical fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an international setting, in the historical past, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are family, power and politics and love. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 672 pages it's a real commitment. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.