Cover of The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn

by Robin Maxwell · 1997

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In this "energetic" (Kirkus Reviews)re-creation of Anne Boleyn's tragic life — and death — Robin Maxwell offers a pitch-perfect version of a bawdy and exuberant time filled with lust, betrayal, love, and murder.When the young Queen Elizabeth I is entrusted with Anne Boleyn's secret diary, she discovers a great deal about the much-maligned mother she never knew. And on learning the truth about her lascivious and despotic father, Henry VIII, she vows never to relinquish control to any man. But this avowal doesn't prevent Elizabeth from pursuing a torrid love affair with her horsemaster, Robin Dudley — described with near-shocking candor — as too are Anne's graphic trysts with a very persistent and lustful Henry. Blending a historian's attention to accuracy with a novelist's artful rendering, Maxwell weaves compelling descriptions of court life and devastating portraits of actual people into her naughty, page-turning tale. The result is a masterpiece of historical fiction — so prophetic of our time that one would think it were ripped from today's headlines.

Genre
historical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisTudorTudorMore like thisLess of thisromanceromanceMore like thisLess of this
Themes
royaltyroyaltyMore like thisLess of thishistoryhistoryMore like thisLess of thiswomenwomenMore like thisLess of thisfeminismfeminismMore like thisLess of this
Setting
TudorTudorMore like thisLess of thisRenaissanceRenaissanceMore like thisLess of thisBritishBritishMore like thisLess of thisEnglandEnglandMore like thisLess of thisEuropeEuropeMore like thisLess of this
Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of thisbiographybiographyMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 281 pages
Form
diarydiaryMore like thisLess of this

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