Newly widowed and the father of an infant son, Henry VIII realizes he must marry again to ensure the royal succession. I recommend it to anyone who loves Tudor historical fiction and doesn’t mind a bit of poetic license in the plot.Description The surprising and dramatic life of the least known of King Henry VIII's wives is illuminated in the fourth volume in the Six Tudor Queens series-for fans of Philippa Gregory, Hilary Mantel, and The Crown. This an entertaining, if a bit unnecessarily long, book. But that whole latter part mostly felt disjointed, and I could have done with less of it. I did like seeing bits of her perspective following Henry’s death, with the regime changes in Edward and Mary’s reign, and was shocked to learn that her being under suspicion in the wake of Wyatt’s rebellion due to her connection to Elizabeth was based in fact. I feel like things could have cut off there and we wouldn’t have missed much, especially if we’re continuing the story through the next two wives anyway.
However, I found the book a bit tedious in places, particularly once she is divorced and time begins to skip ahead. However, given that she’s primarily known for being divorced by the King and escaping with her life and good fortune, but the situation would likely have tainted her and made her unattractive to most diplomatic marriage partners, I found it kind of nice to imagine the possibility that she did have a bit of happiness. I found myself taken aback at first by the revelation of the “secret” Anna, as she’s called here, carries.
But I was intrigued by this Six Wives fiction series, and while I didn’t like that she showed her infamous bias in the one for Anne Boleyn and didn’t have much interest in the Jane Seymour one, she did a good, if tried-and-true portrayal of Catherine of Aragon, and was curious which direction she would take Anne of Cleves.Īnd the portrayal is, by her own admission, controversial. Hardcover | $28.00 USD | ISBN-13: 978-1101966570 | 498 pages | Historical FictionĪlison Weir is a superstar in the world of Tudor history, known mostly for her nonfiction, but I’ve noticed her fiction tends to get more mixed reviews, and that is definitely the case with Anna of Kleve as well, as she straddles the line between the historical accuracy she’s known for and the sensationalism that made her peers like Philippa Gregory famous. Anna of Kleve: The Princess in the Portrait.
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