I first became aware of Jane Boleyn while reading a Phillipa Gregory book called The Boleyn Inheritance which paints a rather different picture of this woman, however it is meant as a fictional story based on true events. Jane Boleyn on the other hand attempts to paint a broader picture of what life was like for Lady Rochford and to dispel rumours of her apparent sexual deviance.
I found this a not very enlightening historical account of Lady Rochford's life, while it outlined her early life well, much of what was said about her life as a courtier in Henry VIII's court was pure speculation such as "it was quite possible she was in the Queen's coronation". I'm sure I can't judge the book on the whole from this, as it was in the 1500s and there is probably not a lot of readable documentation existing from that time, however I do think that when a book is about facts, it should stick to facts and not speculate as much as this book did, because it makes it difficult to distinguish between what is actual historical fact and what is just this author's particular speculation.
I also had an idea from the back cover of this book that it would go more into the speculation, mainly after her death about her sexual deviance and her aid of Catherine Howard in extramarital affairs while with the King. Instead following the story of her life, and consequent execution there was just a single chapter with regards to the speculation surround her life.
The book however was well written and painted a coherent, well flowing story of not only Jane Boleyn's life but also of 5 of 6 of King Henry's wives and his reasons for divorcing or executing them. Unfortunately because of the purely unhistorical nature of this book, I would not recommend it to anyone very interested in English history, as it also comes up with nothing new, however I think it would serve well as an introduction to 16th century history.
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