The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels #9)

by Philippa Gregory

“If I refuse?” I asked, my voice very thin. He gave me his most cynical smile that left his eyes as cold as wet coals. “You don’t,” he said simply. “The world’s not changed that much yet. Men still rule.”

“I was born to be your rival,” she said simply. “And you mine. We’re sisters, aren’t we?”

“You are the lowest of things,” I said to her one night as she combed her hair before the mirror and then plaited it into one thick dark rope. “I know,” she said complacently, looking at her reflection.

“You’ll be my lady in waiting,” Anne said sweetly. “You’ll be the other Boleyn girl.”

She had a grace that came from absolute confidence in her position in the world.

“We might either of us be Queen of England and yet we’ll always be nothing to our family.”

In a world where women were bought and sold as horses I had found a man I loved; and married for love. I would never suggest that this was a mistake.

“Do I have to be always alone?” Anne demanded. “Walk alone, pray alone, bed alone?” George hesitated at the bleak appeal. “Yes,” I said stoutly. “You chose to be queen. I warned you it wouldn’t bring you joy.”