I loved the book. Not because it was inspirational or life changing (because it wasn't) but because it was the first book I had really read in this genre. I enjoyed learning about some of the vague history in the Tudor period. I don't really remember much of what I learnt in primary school about the Tudors, except that Henry had a lot of wives. I took this book as fictional because I had read so many reviews that it was inaccurate, but as fiction book it was an interesting story. I particularly liked Mary as a character and her story made me glad that my life isn’t controlled by my family to the extent that hers was. Several themes running through the book struck me, Power, Ambition, Spite, Greed..... Sounds similar to the world we are living in today! In the search for power, ambition, spite and greed, one ends up with nothing, as is shown by the characters of Anne and the King. However I like the fact that Mary choose love over everything and was prepared to deal with the life it brought.
Last night I got the DVD of the movie, a bar of chocolate and prepared to sit down and enjoy the movie, hopefully as much as I enjoyed the book. However disappointingly it was one of the worst films I've seen this year. The characters were portrayed weakly. The hatred and spite Anne showed to Mary in the book was hardly even shown. Huge chunks were missed out including the beheading at the beginning, the birth of Elizabeth, the series of unsuccessful pregnancies, the trip to the wise woman.... most of the good parts were omitted completely! I would recommend completely the book but not this film! It is a shame as this book could have been transformed into a great film.