Re: The House of Boleyn by Tracy Borman

 


Thank you to #NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Press for having an advance copy of this stellar book and for a chance to review it for others!  

Anne Boleyn has been the subject of so many stories over the years.  She was King Henry VIII 2nd wife and yet I think perhaps that most talked about of his six wives and all the other countless women he slept with.  This book delves quite deeply into the story of the Boleyn family and is based, for the most part, at the setting of their family estate Hever Castle in Kent, England. 

Having read so much about Anne and her family over the years and seeing some documentaries, I thought this novel would be a rehash of things I already knew. But it is interesting I had to pick it up and thanks to #NetGalley I got an advanced copy to read and review. This author I was not familiar with but will be from here on out!

This book was anything but old rehash! It had so much information and juicy details in it that I have never heard.  Many of the back stories of other folks associated with Anne and her family were also told.  The author apparently spent a great deal of time researching this entire story because it reflects everything down to a tea of the time period.

It was engaging, suspenseful and lively. If you enjoy period pieces this is such a good capture of life in England around the royalty family and their house servants in the 1500’s. I absolutely loved it.

The author did not try to make the characters what she wanted them to be, but believable, flawed and at times, vulnerable.  It appears to be written unbiased allowing you, the reader, to formulate your own opinions.  So well written too. It literally flows from chapter to the next building up and explaining fully the background of the Boleyn family and most of the newsy worthy pieces of the families’ lives with it centering around Anne.

I can’t imagine the book being any shorter because there is nothing in it that was boring, mundane or unneeded. Get ready for some real drama and gossip and history with this read!  ***10 out of 10

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