by Alison Weir
This is the second in noted Tudor historian Alison Weir's fictional series, "Six Tudor Queens," about the wives of Henry VIII. At 541 pages, this one is a little shorter than the first in the series, but would still have benefitted from some trimming. The long seven years when Henry was waiting for his first marriage to be annulled are quite tedious.
Much more interesting were the first and last parts of the book. I knew Anne Boleyn had spent time in the French court, but was not aware that she had also spent time in the Netherlands under the regency of Margaret of Austria, who was a capable ruler. Weir implies that these two experiences led to Anne's progressive attitudes, and she also supposes that Anne did not love Henry beyond his capability of putting her in a powerful position.
Once Anne and Henry do marry, the book gets interesting again. Weir sets up various situations that could explain Anne's innocence of the charges later brought against her. Her depiction of Anne's death is rather gruesome. All her suppositions are explained in an eight-page author's note, but there are no references in this work of fiction. Oh, and the family tree at the beginning of the hardbound edition I borrowed is very messed up in layout.
Weir sums up her purpose with this book in the author's note as follows:
In writing this novel from Anne's point of view, I have tried to reconcile conflicting views of her, and to portray her as a flawed but very human heroine, a woman of great ambition, idealism, and courage who found herself in an increasingly frightening situation.
I think Weir succeeded. I will be reading the rest of the books in this series.
© Amanda Pape - 2018
[This book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.]
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