The Last Boleyn - Karen Harper

I've done a lot of reading this year about the Tudor era in England's history. Granted, it's been historical fiction but there are some facts involved. This particular book is about Mary Boleyn. For those who aren't familiar with her or the timeframe involved, she was Anne Boleyn's sister. And Anne Boleyn eventually ascended to the crown to become the first commoner Queen of England.

Mary's story takes a different turn. She was sent away at age 10 to live with Princess Mary (King Henry's sister) as she became Queen of France. She was allowed to stay at the French court when all the other Englishwomen were sent home. She kept the secret that, after the French king's death, that Mary and Charles Brandon were secretly married. But she was soon to be used by the new king all in the name of love. Her father told her to submit to whatever the new king had in mind and she did. So he used and abused her. Literally. At one point, he gave her to a member of his court as payment for a gambling debt.

Eventually her father brought her home to England where she caught the eye of Henry VIII. She eventually bedded him as well and was rewarded with lands and titles for her family. As all her father and uncle cared about was wealth, power, and those titles, they encouraged her to continue. She married a man of the king's choosing who also benefitted from Mary's being mistress to the King but resented every second of her time away from him. It was all about duty with William Carey. But there was someone else waiting in the wings ... William Stafford.

While Mary was pregnant with her first son (and there was a question as to who had fathered the boy), her father thrust Anne under the king's nose. And the rest, shall we say, is history. Through it all, Mary persevered. And lived a long, full life.