Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory

                                         

 Hardback: 488 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins 2025

Source: Tywyn Library

First Sentence:  In the hammered silver of the mirror, we look like two headless ghosts - our black hoods hiding our faces.

Series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/187905-the-plantagenet-and-tudor-novels

Review Quote:  ‘An immersive visit to the Court of Henry VIII with its magnificence and machinations, its pageantry and plotting' Saga

My Opinion:

I have been a fan of Philippa Gregory for many years although I have not read any of her books in the last few years. When reading her novels it is very easy to forget that they are works of fiction as her extensive research brings history alive on the printed page.

 'Boleyn Traitor,'' is the story of Jane Boleyn who became a Boleyn when she married Anne and Mary Boleyn's brother George. It is the eleventh book in her series about the Plantagenets and the Tudors. Once thought of as a high spirited eccentric Henry VIII is these days seen more as a tyrant, a throughly unpleasant man who abused women. It is whilst living in his court that ambitious Jane survives in the service of five Queens, guiding  them as a lady in waiting  whilst watching the decline of the Kings health.  As a voyeur for Thomas Cromwell she was somewhat protected by him, so it was only after his death and later her fateful decision to help Katheryn Howard meet her lover that we witness her downfall.

If you want to read a fictional but well researched account of Jane Boleyn's life at the court of Henry VIII, then I recommend Philippa Gregory's take on the treachery of the court during this period of history, through the eyes of this lesser known Boleyn. 

Precis Courtsey of Goodreads:

#1 New York Times bestselling author and “queen of royal fiction” (USA Today) Philippa Gregory returns with a dazzling historical novel of ambition, betrayal, and survival in the court of Henry VIII.

Jane Boleyn watches from the shadows of the Tudor court, where secrets are currency, every choice is dangerous, and even the faintest whisper can seal the fate of queens.

For Jane, survival demands playing every role required of a loving wife who conceals her doubts, a devoted sister to Anne Boleyn at the height of her power, and an obedient spy who carefully wields her words. But in a court ruled by ambition and a tyrant’s sword, Jane must rely on her sharp wit and skillful maneuvering to outthink those around her, knowing that one wrong move could cost her everything.

Philippa Gregory masterfully shines a spotlight on the untold story of Jane Boleyn, peeling back the myths to reveal a complex portrait of a woman who dared to survive at any cost. Perfect for fans of thrilling historical drama and readers captivated by the intrigue of the Tudor period, Boleyn Traitor is a must-read.

Author Profile:    

                                                              Courtesy of Amazon

                                                      

DR Philippa Gregory was born in Kenya. She  studied history at the University of Sussex and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where she is a Regent and was made Alumna of the Year in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University, and is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers’ Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Neilsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. In 2021, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature and to her charity Gardens for the Gambia. and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

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The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and her writing. 

Goodreads Author Profile   Amazon Author Profile  Facebook Profile.   Philippa Gregory - Official Website
 

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

                                                       

Hardback: 372 pages

Genre:  Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Italy

Publisher:  Doubleday 2025

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: That was the summer they wore flip-flops. Everywhere they went, they wore them.

Setting: Lake Orta, Italy

Favourite Quote:  “The fact is,” she said, “we’re all born. We’re all going to die. So the only interesting question is what we choose to do with the middle.”            

Review Quote: A masterly and deeply satisfying exploration of art, grief and familial bonds. -- Hannah Beckerman- Author

My Opinion: 

Having enjoyed the previous novels I have read by Rachel Joyce I was keen to read her latest offering 'The Homemade God'  

The protagonists are four siblings Netta, Susan, Gustav(Goose) and Iris. Now adults, they were brought up by their widowed artist father with whom they have a tempestuous relationship. Their world is torn apart when Vic meets and marries, in a very short space time, a much younger woman. This seems to them out of character and they are suspicious of her motives. To make matters even worse, Vic dies within weeks of the marriage leaving them reeling with doubts. Obviously they need to find out what happened to their father and the process completely screws up even more the family dynamics as secrets are revealed.  

An absorbing and emotional novel with complex characters. Highly recommend this novel to everyone as it is a superb read from a talented author.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Goose and his three sisters gather at their father's home by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece; now he is dead. There is no sign of his new wife and no sign of a painting.Always close, all that the siblings come to understand, about themselves, their father and their new stepmother, Bella-Mae, will drive them apart before they can come to any kind of understanding of what their father's legacy truly is.

Previous Reviews:  Miss Benson's Beetle.  Perfect.   Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North   The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Author Profile:         

                                                          Courtesy of Goodreads 

Rachel Joyce was born in London in 1962. She has written over 20 original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and major adaptations for both the Classic Series, Woman's Hour and also a TV drama adaptation for BBC 2. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for best radio play. She moved to writing after a twenty-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC, the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, and Cheek by Jowl, winning a Time Out Best Actress award and the Sony Silver.

For a full profile visit her Website

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Goodreads Profile   Rachel Joyce - Official Website   Instagram Profile

Amazon Book Page

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

                                                      

 Hardback: 437 pages                                                                            

Genre:  Literary Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance.

Publisher:  2024 by Faber and Faber

Source: Tywyn Library 

First Sentences: Didn't seem fair on the young lad. That suit at the funeral. With the braces on his teeth, the supreme discomfort of the adolescent.

Review Quote: 'Intermezzo is perfect ... Is there a better novelist at work right now?' Observer

Favourite Quote: “Yes I would like he thinks to live in such a way that I could vanish into thin air at any time without affecting anyone and in fact I feel that for me this would constitute the perfect and perhaps the only acceptable life. At the same time I want desperately to be loved.”

Literary Awards: British Book Award Nominee for Fiction (2025), Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Nominee for International Book (2025), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2024), The Rooster -- The Morning News Tournament of Books Nominee for Longlist (2025), She Reads Best of Award Nominee for Book of the Year and Literary Fiction (2024), Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Award Nominee (2024)

Setting: Dublin, Ireland.

My Opinion: 

The third book I have read by this Irish author and each one has been a 5* literary treat.

'Intermezzo' is an emotionally moving story of two brothers whose father has recently died leaving them both grieving in different ways and causing an estrangement between them. Actually they have never been that close anyway. Peter the much older sibling is struggling as his relationship with the love of his life is a difficult one and he finds himself turning to a much younger woman for consolation. Ironic as at the same time he is overtly critical of his brother Ivan for being romantically involved with an older woman. The character building and exploration of the dynamics between the brothers and the women in their lives tie this complex novel together perfectly.

For me this was another well-crafted contemporary relationship story from Sally Rooney, highly recommended.

 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Previous Review:  Beautiful World Where Are You

Author Profile: 

                                                             Courtesy of Goodreads Profile

SALLY ROONEY was born in County Mayo in the west of Ireland in 1991. She now lives in Dublin. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta and The London Review of Books. Winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2017, she is the author of Conversations with Friends and the editor of the Irish literary journal The Stinging Fly.

Photograph and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Amazon Author Page.   Goodreads Profile.   

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers

                                                                         

                                                  

Ebook:  390 pages                                                                            

Genre:  Literary Fiction, 

Publisher: August 29, 2024 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson

Source: My Kindle Library 

First Sentence: In all failed relationships there is a point that passes unnoticed at the time, which can later be identified as the beginning of the decline.

Review Quote: 'As compelling as you want fiction to be' SUNDAY TIMES

Favourite Quote: “Already there was between them that invisible thread that joins two people who have noticed each other for the first time.”

Setting: London suburbs 1964

My Opinion: 

When I discovered that Clare Chambers, first novel was published in the nineties I was surprised as she is an author I had not read before throughly enjoying Small Pleasures in 2021. 'Shy Creatures' is her first novel since then and has been on my to read list since it was published last year.

With 'Shy Creatures' Clare Chambers has very cleverly taken a true and woven a narrative, with brilliant characters around the event. In the fifties in Bristol a young man was found to have been kept housebound for twenty-five years. The protagonist of this novel William Tapping is based on this man. The story is revealed to the reader backwards from 1964, when William was discovered and admitted to a psychiatric hospital, back to 1938 when William's world was changed for ever. The relationships with the other characters are all very credible with details that felt authentic, if at times harrowing.

A beautifully written and compassionate tale, highly recommended as a five star read.

 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

In all failed relationships there is a point that passes unnoticed at the time, which can later be identified as the beginning of the decline. For Helen it was the weekend that the Hidden Man came to Westbury Park.

Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with a charismatic, married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen's home. A mute, thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.

Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness.

Previous Review: Small Pleasures

Author Profile:

 

Clare Chambers was born in1966 in Croydon south east London the daughter of English teachers. At 16 she met her future husband a teacher fourteen years her senior. She studied English at Oxford and spent the year after graduating in New Zealand, with her by then husband where she wrote her first novel, Uncertain Terms, published when she was 25. She has since written eight further novels, including Learning to Swim (Century 1998) which won the Romantic Novelists’ Association best novel award in 1999 and was adapted as a Radio 4 play, and In a Good Light (Century 2004) which was longlisted for the Whitbread best novel prize.

Clare began her career as a secretary at the publisher André Deutsch, they not only published her first novel, but made her type her own contract. In due course she went on to become a fiction and non-fiction editor there herself, until leaving to raise a family and concentrate on her own writing. Some of the experiences of working for an eccentric, independent publisher in the pre-digital era found their way into her novel The Editor’s Wife (Century, 2007). When her three children were teenagers, inspired by their reading habits, she produced two YA novels, Bright Girls (HarperCollins 2009) and Burning Secrets (HarperCollins 2011).

She took up a post as Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Kent in September 2020.

She lives with her husband in south east London and generally has her nose in a book.

Photograph and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Amazon Author Page   Goodreads Author Profile 

 Clare Chambers on Twitter