After what has felt like a bit of a slog, I have, AT LAST, finished The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, by Alison Weir, which I read in print. This book is a non-fiction account of the last four months of the life of the second wife of Henry VIII. The blurb about the book says that this reads like a novel - do not be fooled! This is much more like a textbook than a novel. Once you start reading it like a textbook, you will appreciate it a bit more. It is packed, and I mean PACKED with references to the source material the author has used. At first I found this very distracting as I felt obliged to keep flicking to the notes section - but as I wasn't getting anything out of doing this, I just ignored them and eventually got into the flow of the book. The author brings together a whole raft of evidence to argue her case for "what really happened" - either agreeing or not with previous historians along the way. I did find out more about the people involved, as well as the political and religious vagaries of the Tudor period. It is hard to feel sympathy with a woman who helped persuade Henry to ditch his first wife, contributing to the schism within the church, and who, by all accounts, was not an easy woman to like! However, it is hard not to have some empathy for a woman who, having just suffered yet another miscarriage, found that her husband's affections had moved to another woman (Jane Seymour), and that any friends she did have had started to evaporate - leaving her isolated and alone, with the knowledge that this was not going to end well. I feel I have learned something more about the Tudor period, which I am very interested in, and am equally glad that I'm not living in those brutal times!
Whilst I am sure others will find this book a great read, I'm afraid that, personally, I'd only give this book 2 STARS.
The stats bit:
Length: 416 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.00 in a church fete.
Other formats available in: unabridged audio (CD); unabridged audio (download); Ebook (Kindle).
Aw, shame it was a slog. I have read Weir's 'Eleanor of Aquitaine', appropriately enough while on holiday in the Aquitaine area. I found it very good - not like reading a novel sure, but then it isn't a novel.
ReplyDeleteI also have to report that I've just read 'Dancing Backwards' by Sally Garner. I really enjoyed it too, very good main character with quirks and failings and gradually revealed history with well characterised supporting cast. I would have ranked it below 'Restless' though and also 'Girl with..' but we are all different.
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