When she returns to England she quickly attracts Henry's attention. Henry VIII is exposed as the cruel egotistical monster he clearly was, though we begin by observing his passionate ardour for the dark haired beauty whose vivacity and polished manners have been acquired during a spell with the French royal family. She can be ruthless and acts against Katherine of Aragon, and against Princess Mary but we see Mary has #is so filled with hate to Queen Anne (a particularly gruesome passage where Princss Mary describes how she would like to torture Anne to a slow death-a foretaste of her career as Bloody Mary when she took the throne). Plaidy presents Anne Boleyn as an intelligent, passionate women, capable of great love and loyalty (she is heartbroken when her one true love Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland This is a far superior work to The Other Boleyn Girl in which Gregory demonizes Anne Boleyn and The Confession of Katherine Howard in which Dunn does a horrible hatchet job on Katherine Howard. Plaidy creates much more multifaceted character, much more so than the books about Henry's wives by Phillipa Gregory and Susanna Dunn. A page turner which kept me reading late into toe night. The style is engaging, witty, moving, and brings the period and characters to life in such a brilliant way. Nobody writes British historical fiction better than Jean Plaidy and this is one of her classics.įirst published in 1949, it is NOT AT ALL dated.
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