She rose as a favourite. Will she fall as a traitor?
In the dazzling, dangerous world of the Tudor Court, nothing is more powerful than a secret – or more deadly.
Jane Boleyn has mastered many masks: loving wife, devoted sister, and obedient spy.
But as the king's rule advances into tyranny, Jane must decide: keep playing her part, or use the only power she really has – her voice.
Philippa Gregory brings the Boleyn traitor into the light in an explosive story of one woman’s survival in the treacherous heart of the Tudor court.
Book Review - Five Stars
Boleyn Traitor pulled me straight back into the dangerous world of Henry VIII’s court, but this time through the eyes of a woman I realised I knew surprisingly little about. Jane Boleyn has certainly not been treated kindly by history, and I really liked the way Philippa Gregory took such a familiar Tudor figure and made me question how much of what I thought I knew about her was actually true.
What kept me most interested was Jane herself. She is clever, ambitious and incredibly good at surviving in a court where one wrong move can quite literally cost you your head. Her relationship with Thomas Cromwell was particularly fascinating, especially as she becomes useful to him as an informant. I also loved watching Jane become more politically confident as the story progressed, although there were definitely moments when I wanted to grab her and ask what on earth she was thinking.
The Tudor court is wonderfully brought to life, with all the beautiful clothes, gossip, secrets and constantly changing loyalties, but there is always a sense of danger underneath it all. I particularly enjoyed the sections with Anne of Cleves, while everything surrounding Catherine Howard and Thomas Culpeper had me wanting to shout at Jane to please, for the love of God, stay out of it. We all know how that ends.
If you enjoy Tudor fiction filled with court politics, secrets, ambition and women trying to survive Henry VIII, this is definitely one to pick up. Boleyn Traitor made me look at Jane Boleyn completely differently, and considering how many Tudor novels I have read over the years, that is quite an achievement.
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned historian and novelist. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature at the University of Edinburgh and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff, an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck University of London and she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to literature and to charity. Her novels have been adapted for stage and screen and in 2023 she published her groundbreaking history book, Normal Women - 900 Years of Making History, which was also released as a podcast, a teen edition and a series for young children.
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