The forces of reform and the desire for a new marriage mean that Cromwell and Henry with others combine forces to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon. Henry becomes interested but Anne has learnt that being a royal mistress is not well rewarded, so she persuades Henry that he will have her only as a mistress in the chivalric sense. Cardinal Wolsey becomes an enemy, Cromwell succeeds him in managing the king’s affairs in every respect. On her return to England the story of the ambitious Boleyn family is repeated as Anne’s attractions begin to be noticed in aristocratic and royal circles. Her early encounter with the young Henry is not propitious, and it becomes evident in this world that men still hold sway as Mary, her elder sister is attacked by powerful men. Either way, the message is clear Anne was determined to make a difference in the politics of the day. It may be that the dialogue here sounds somewhat stilted as they discuss their ideas.
Here she encounters some very singular women for the time who are educated and determined to make their mark in political affairs. The novel opens with an account of Anne’s early life in the courts of Europe. It is a solid novel, with many well researched points of interest and telling detail. This may have been the result of the narrative being in the third person, or simply because much of this story has been written about in so many novels. I found it a curiously distant book, which was no doubt well researched but did not show as much understanding as is usual in an historical novel. This is a fictional account, written by historian Alison Weir, of the life of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII.
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