There an odd sort of connection between Gregory, Hirst and Mantel, an evolution of sorts. Gregory wrote her book 13 years ago. Perhaps Gregory has been more influential than imagined, because both Hirst and Mantel have taken Gregory’s portrayals of the Boleyn family, and with the exception of Hirst not alluding that Anne Boleyn committed adultery, they have expanded on them and made them altogether more abhorrent.