Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl, will release a novel about Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law Jane as part of a three-book deal with HarperCollins.

The first novel, Boleyn Traitor, tells the story of lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, who allegedly played a key role in Henry VIII’s 1536 executions of Jane’s husband George and Henry’s wife Anne, who were said to have committed an incestuous and adulterous affair.

Gregory explored the life of Anne’s sister Mary Boleyn in her best-selling 2001 book, The Other Boleyn Girl, which inspired a film starring Hollywood actresses Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman.

The author, 70, has explored the Tudor court in several other novels including The Boleyn Inheritance (2006) and The Taming of the Queen (2015).

Gregory said: “It has been a long-held ambition to explore the character and extraordinary life of Jane Boleyn – whose evidence sent her husband George and sister-in-law Queen Anne to their deaths.

“Historians for centuries have puzzled as to why Jane – lady-in-waiting to five of Henry’s six queens – should have betrayed her own husband at the peak of his success.

“After years of research I think I understand why she was driven to destroy him, and why she went on to serve and spy on three later queens.

“It’s hugely exciting to publish worldwide with HarperCollins, the home of my Tudor novels, and inspiring to return to a period which continues to fascinate millions of readers.”

It has been a long-held ambition to explore the character and extraordinary life of Jane Boleyn - whose evidence sent her husband George and sister-in-law Queen Anne to their deaths

Charlie Redmayne, HarperCollins UK chief executive, said: “Philippa Gregory is a wonderful writer who has built a loyal following through her brilliant and empathetic storytelling and seemingly limitless historical knowledge.

“It’s long been my ambition to see her come home to HarperCollins and I am delighted we have achieved that, not just here in the UK but globally too.”

In 2021, Gregory was made a CBE for services to literature in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Boleyn Traitor will be published in October 2025 by HarperFiction in the UK.