For July—a time of revolution in both the US and France - we’ll take a fresh look at the woman who caused a religious revolution in England: the controversial, much-maligned, much-misunderstood Anne Boleyn.
Most stories focus on the drama that begins when Anne returns to England and catches the eye of King Henry VIII. In this first of two volumes, MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN, Robin Maxwell concentrates instead on Anne’s early life, when she accompanies her father and sister Mary to France. Maxwell postulates that as a diplomat whose true mission was to spy on the French court, Thomas Boleyn encouraged his daughter Mary’s affairs, particularly with King Francois. Maxwell shows an initially innocent young Anne learning from prominent intellectuals of the day, interacting with Leonardo da Vinci himself, and observing with increasing acuity the role a woman’s beauty and desirability could play in advancing the ambitions of herself and her family. The dismissive treatment her sister received after playing her part cannot help but have inspired the intelligent, politically and sensually savvy Anne to withhold her favors for six long years, until Henry was willing to make her a wife and a queen instead of just a mistress. But the focus of the novel isn’t the English court, but the French one, with the complex relationship between the philandering King Francois and his steadfast wife Queen Claude providing a vivid backdrop to the coming-of-age of the woman who would one day be Henry’s thousand-day queen.
Maxwell examines Anne’s story from another angle in THE SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN. Entrusted with her late mother’s secret diary, newly crowned Queen Elizabeth discovers - within its pages - vivid descriptions of her mother’s relationship with Henry, from his first notice when she joins the maidens attending Queen Katherine, through the long six years of keeping him at arm’s length until he at last claims the divorce that will make her Queen. But the prize isn’t held for long, Anne leaving her daughter with the warning “never to relinquish control to any man.” Interspersed with spicy details of Anne’s romantic life, the political skirmishes and diplomatic maneuvering of her time, we have Elizabeth’s own torrid liaison with her horsemaster, Robin Dudley and the intrigue of the early Elizabethan years. Full of the pageantry of royal life and portrayals of all the major players of the day, Maxwell’s portrait of the mature Anne is sure to entertain.
Another novel that purports to reveal Anne’s intimate thoughts is THE TRUTH ENDURES: ANNE BOLYN’S MEMOIRS by Sandra Vasoli. This rendition concentrates mainly on the early years of the relationship between Anne and Henry, revealing Anne as intelligent, charismatic and witty—but also ambitious, brazen and somewhat ruthless in her dismissal of those, like Queen Katherine, who stand in her way. Lush details of the English court and its personalities form a backdrop for the unfolding affair, which Vasoli follows to its ultimate end, Anne’s final days in the Tower, a prisoner unwilling to believe that the man who pursued her so ardently would really bring about her death.
Our final selection was penned by one of the Tudor genre’s foremost experts, Alison Weir. ANNE BOLEYN: A KING’S OBSESSION (SIX TUDOR WIVES BOOK 2) covers the whole of Anne’s life, from her departure as a girl to the court of the Netherlands, then to France, where she studies the works of progressive writers, and through her sister’s experiences, becoming acutely aware of the indignities too often suffered by the daughters of ambitious families. Determined to avoid a fate like Mary’s, she refuses to become the King’s mistress. This only intensifies Henry’s pursuit, and urged on by her family, she begins to consider the changes she could bring about as Queen, from advocating the reformed religion, providing the Bible in English to her countrymen, and promoting the progressive improvements she’d read about while abroad. But her encouragement could be negative too; in fostering Henry’s increasingly contemptuous treatment of Queen Katherine and Princess Mary and his abandonment and punishment of former friends like Thomas Moore and Bishop Fisher, she unwittingly sets the stage for her own destruction when she, too, fails to deliver the son and heir she promised.
From a more traditional historical novel to compelling intimate diary accounts, this month’s selection of stories featuring Anne Boleyn are sure to surprise, enlighten, entertain—and engender a renewed sympathy and understanding of a woman who continues to fascinate almost five hundred years after her death.
Real, intense, passionate historical romance
Award-winning romance author Julia Justiss, who has written more than thirty historical novels and novellas set in the English Regency and the American West, just completed her first contemporary series set in the fictional Hill Country town of Whiskey River, Texas.
A voracious reader who began jotting down plot ideas for Nancy Drew novels in her third-grade spiral, Julia has published poetry and worked as a business journalist.
She and her husband live in East Texas, where she continues to craft the stories she loves. Check her website for details about her books, chat with her on social media, and follow her on Bookbub and Amazon to receive notices about her latest releases.
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