Boleyn,
Maybe Mary didn’t do anything wrong. Thomas Boleyn may have thought that Anne would be the better choice to stay with Queen Claude and continue her education. He could have simply decided to bring Mary home. Since there was no talk about Mary having clandestine affairs during this time, I just don’t feel right accusing her of them. If there was more proof, I would change my mind. It wasn’t until much later that the stories about Mary came about. Well after her time in France.
Yes, the five year period is a mystery, but it could be that Mary was home at Hever learning wifely duties, and there was nothing to report. Mud sticking is a good analogy, but I don’t think either of these women tainted the other. The way to destroy a woman back then was to accuse her of being a wh*re. A woman would have no defence against this charge. If they could destroy Anne with the accusation of being a wh*re, then destroying Mary with the same accusation, was easy.
This is strictly my opinion, but this family has been ripped to pieces by history. Anne and George are finally being rehabillitated. (an uphill battle, I know) I think Mary certainly deserves the same.

Even if Mary had not been Francois’s mistress PG still makes up tons of nonsense she calls “truth”. That one rumor or whatever still doens’t make her right about anything else she lies about. I think PG should completely block herself from the Tudor era because she’s more interested in making more rumors and getting us further away from the truth than giving it any justice.

Boleyn said

I agree Mya Totally. SWMNBN lives in some sort of a fantasy land. I’m getting a little frustratd with the book I’m reading of her now. The Virgin’s lover. It just seems to me that in the book Elizabeth comes across as a bit of a thicko Grrrrr not to mention the inconsistences. I’ll get around to them when I’ve read it. Either way I thinking the idea I have had with lining the chipmunk cage with it after I’ve finished it is beginning to appeal more and more.

Oh, how I loathe “The Virgin’s Lover.” It is the worst (in my opinion) of SWMNBN books. She turned Elizabeth into an idiot, also my opinion. I feel your pain, Boleyn. I forced myself through the book, and then whisked it back to the library in record time. I must say, I did like SWMNBN’s “The Constant Princess.” I read it after TOBG, and it felt like a different author wrote it. I actually enjoyed the novel (although this was over 3 years ago), and it did like her view of a young KOA.