This is the basic story of Anne Boleyn and how she weasled her way to the throne by marrying Henry VIII. It is a young adult novel so it's very easy to read and very easy to understand (history is not always easy to keep straight) but I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Tudor era, or if you just love historical fiction.
This is my first Carolyn Meyer novel though I have Duchessina on my to-read list. Meyer portrays Anne and her history as accurately as I am aware of. I have slightly more then basic knowledge about the Tudors but I am not at all an expert, though I would say that this is a wonderful novel, or introduction to anyone wondering about the story behind Anne Boleyn and everything that happened before she was beheaded.
She portrays Anne as the power hungry woman that she is thought to have been, yet, she gives her a human quality - which of course, Anne was human! Even after Anne convinces Henry to banish Queen Katharine of Aragon, and Cardinal Wolsey, you still kind of root for Anne. You want her to be Queen as much as she wants herself to be. And knowing ahead of time how it ends (it is common knowledge that she lost her head) kind of makes the novel bittersweet. Anne gets her wish, but at what cost? If she could have seen her future as Queen and if she had known what her fate would be, would she still have wanted the position as badly? Anne knows Henry's fickleness yet she believes she is safe from it.
I would say that Meyer is the Philippa Gregory for young adult readers
3 comments:
I have to be a historysnark... that book are full of crap and romantic bla bla but I guess it's an ok novell. I can recomend Antonia Fraser or Karen Lindsey if you want history.
Well, well, I promise to shut up now :)
LOL did you read this actual book? This one was really good, I promise! It was more of Anne getting the throne and less "Oh Henry I love you!" I mean of course there is an insy bit of romance, because there was an insy bit of romance to Anne and Henry. An insy bit, mostly lust LOL but it was there :P Have you ever read Philippa Gregory? I have a couple of books by Antonia Frasier - some nonfiction, but I have her novels on my "to read" list LOL.
I started to read that book but I never made my self finish it, and I have to remember that most people are not 16th century fanatic's like me. (If I wasn't studying ethnology I would study history or archeology).
I don't think I have read Gregory, I don't got her in my bookshelf anyway.
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