Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen: Amazon.co.uk: Joanna Denny: Books

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Product Description

Anne Boleyn has been persistently vilified, even after her execution in May 1536 - on trumped up charges of adultery - she has been pursued beyond the grave, subjected to all manner of accusations. Was she really the scheming temptress portrayed by her enemies, guilty of incest and witchcraft? Was she deformed? Could a woman with the abnormalities described by her detractors have drawn and held the love of the king for more than ten years? Joanna Denny's biography plunges the reader into the heart of the intrigue, romance and danger of the Tudor court, and paints a picture of the real woman - attractive, highly intelligent and devout - that has been hidden for centuries by the distortions of politics and religion.

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
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Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars well written but extremely biased!, 18 April 2006

By

Fairy Princess (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book, it was well written and interesting, it is just a shame that Denny made it totally unconvincing and so one sided. Anne Boleyn was painted as some kind of Angel whilst everyone around her were evil villains. I think it is generally agreed that Anne wasn't guilty of what she was accused of and she had many admirable qualities-but neither can she have been that perfect. Joanna Denny lets herself down as an historian by giving such a biased view. There seems to be plenty of evidence to suggest that Anne was more than capable of being bad tempered, vindictive and malicious but she seemed to be ultimately a good person. It is not fair to villify everybody who didn't like her; for example Denny claims that Mary (Henrys sister) didn't like Anne because she disapproved of Mary's flirtatiousness whilst they were in france together. This may be true, but she leaves out the fact that Mary and Catherine of Aragon were close friends-so it follows she would side with her. Her attitude towards Catherine of Aragon is particularly unfair, she describes her as 'arragont and stubborn' for not submitting to divorce-I think Catherine's reaction was perfectly natural, the man who she had been married to for over 20 years and loved deeply was trying to shrug off their marriage for somebody else. Catherine was also fighting to prevent her daughter being made illegitamite thus losing her place as heir to the throne, and her religion forbade divorce. Denny accuses her of lying to the king about her miscarriage. Starkey offers the more plausabile view that Catherine didn't know enough about sex and pregnancy to realise she was no longer pregnant-she just went with what the Doctors told her at the time. Denny twists alot of events to put very unjust slants on peoples actions and characters and writes off as lies and mistruths anything that puts Anne in a bad light whilst also omitting alot of events that don't do Anne credit. The book gives alot of detailed insight into anne Boleyn but doesn't allow for the fact that at the end of the day she was only human.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 2 Stars, 24 April 2007

By

Jackie Henninger (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen (Hardcover)

"The very ink of history is written with fluid prejudice." Mark Twain

How very interesting it is that Ms. Denny starts her book with this quote. History indeed, in my opinion, is a very fluid study. Anne Boleyn has been portrayed as an evil seductress throughout history; however in this book, quite the opposite is portrayed.

I have always been of the opinion that Anne Boleyn has been mis-represented. Not much was known of her in common historical cirlces. I find Ms. Denny's research quite interesting and refreshing at times; however, that is where it ends for me.

I have always held the opinion that Anne Boleyn was a very educated,composed woman; no matter what history trys to portray her as being. It is said that Queen Elizabeth I was a lot like her mother in looks, demeanor and intelligence. Do I think Anne Boleyn was a saint as in my opinion, Ms. Denny portrays her to be? Absolutely not.

I quite honestly found her character assesments of Queen Catherine of Aragon, Mary and Jane Seymour quite disturbing. It seems to me that in order to make Anne Boleyn's case stronger, Ms. Denny attempts to historically assassinate other women who happen to have fallen prey to King Henry VIII's at times, religious views and violent temprament. In order to educate the masses about Anne Boleyn, must you revert to the same mis-leading doctrination? As you have quoted Mark Twain... Isn't your version of history written with the same fluid prejudice?

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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen, 12 Feb 2006

By

"blancamariposa9" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen (Paperback)

I have been interested in the life of Anne Boleyn for many years now, and i was excited to read a book that portrayed Anne in a positive light. The book covered Anne's life from her birth to the aftermath after her death in great detail.

I found the book read almost like a novel, in the sense that i could not put it down, there were moments i laughed out loud and moments i cried..

I think any tudor fanatic should read this book. In response to opinions of Catherine of Aragon being shown in a negative light, i agree, but i feel it was justified. As the book explains (and Starkey touches on this too) at the time it was custom for a marriage consumation to be watched - so many reported Catherine and Arthur had consumated the marriage. Also, with Catherine's lies about her fake pregnancy, it's difficult to believe her when she claims against witness statements that she was a virgin when she married Henry VIII.

Overall, i found the book well written and riveting, taking a whole new perspective of Anne Boleyn. I highly recommend it :)

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Lost Your Head?
Denny has the admirable task of attempting to right a wrong - she believes (quite rightly as it happens) that Anne Boleyn has been unfairly villified for centuries. Read more