The Boleyn Inheritance, Philippa Gregory
It’s been a hot minute (aka years) since I have read a Philippa Gregory book, and think of her what you will, she knows how to write a good novel. I have always loved her prose and storytelling abilities, and The Boleyn Inheritance is no exception. It follows the lives of Anne of cleves, Jane Rochford (Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law), and Katherine Howard in the aftermath of the murder of Anne Boleyn. The women document not only their struggles to survive these demoralizing and treacherous years, but also the king’s descent into madness as he sentences to death anyone who does not agree with him. Most of us already know how the stories of these women end, and that for Katherine and Jane they do not have happy endings. One can take heart, however, in the fact that Anne of Cleves was able to live out her days as she wanted to, and as she says in the book, to “treasure the little spark that is me, uniquely me.” May we all strive to to live our lives in such a way.
We Have Always Been Here, Samra Habib
Samra Habib’s memoir strives to be one of the first of its kind: a queer Muslim memoir. Since the Quran, much like the Bible, prohibits homosexuality and queerness, Habib–who grew up in Pakistan and emigrated to Canada with her family as a child–felt isolated from her Muslim identity when she realized she was queer. Her memoir is the story of how she came back to it, told through her major life events and the effects they had on her and her relationships with the various members of her family. As far as memoir goes, Habib digs deep into the memories she has of her life and analyzes her actions and thoughts on an introspective level, and while she does manage to tie all that into Muslim culture, a more profound level of cultural criticism would have also been fascinating. Memoir is a genre I always think I will enjoy more than I actually do, but in this case it was insightful to read about the intersection of queerness with Muslim identity, and I hope more authors will follow with similar perspectives.