The SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN

Rating:
Summary: One of the best historical fiction!
Review: I just glanced over the other reviews and some reviewers were offended by the bodice-ripping in the first few chapters ~~ I have a piece of advice for you ~~ keep reading. I, too, thought this was another one of those heaving bare-bosoms novels ~~ a bodice ripper but it's not. In fact, I think there were only a few sexual scenes written in this novel after the first few chapters. So even if you're not interested in bodice rippers, I still wouldn't give up this novel at all.

This is an incredibly satisfying read of Elizabeth, my favorite queen in history, and about her mother, who is much-maligned. It is written in an orderly fashion and the emotion that Maxwell poured into this novel is noticable ~~ these are people that history has made her stamp on ~~ and while Anne is known more for her beheading and siring a queen, there isn't much known about her. And this book provides a glimpse into the queen that mothered Elizabeth, an incredibly strong woman then and now.

I have read several nonfictions on Henry the Eighth and his wives, and on Elizabeth as well. This book is about Anne and her story as Maxwell tried to imagine. Now, I am not sure about all the accuracy in the historical facts, but at this point, I really don't care. It's a satisfying read and one I really enjoyed. I highly recommend this one to everyone!

12-18-03

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read for a student of Tudor England.
Review: Much has been made about the man who defied the Church, took its rich lands, and changed a nation's faith. But what do we know about the woman who made it all happen? Robin Maxwell give the reader a rare glimpse of not only the lady of the court who kept a king's lust at bay for six years to get the crown, but her daughter Queen Elizabeth as well.

What worked so well with this novel, were not necessarily Anne's diary entries, but her daughter's reaction to them. Elizabeth is a headstrong woman of considerable wit and charm, growing up not knowing her mother, and coming of age as an unmarried queen in a patriarchal society. Through her mother's diary she learns not only her past, but learns how to shape her future, and ultimately her country's future as well.

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn does an excellent job of personalizing the much maligned second wife of King Henry VIII. Her domineering father, gold bricking sister, and loyal brother all shape the Anne that wins the heart of a monarch. Her diary chronicles her history that shapes the woman that would be queen, and as her unfortunate inability to birth a prince, her tragic demise culminates on the scaffold. Robin Maxwell portrays the proud Queens of England, both Anne and Elizabeth, with grace and honesty.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Boleyn!
Review: The most fascinating thing about "The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn" is the mother/daughter thread. Over the years I've read a lot about Tudor England, but no one has ever given that all-important relationship more than a passing mention.

Robin Maxwell has drawn a portrait for us that displays parental influences in children's lives were just as important five hundred years ago as they are five hundred years later. This is a family book and would do good to share it with mothers and daughters, as well as sons and fathers.

Rating:
Summary: Historical Fiction at it's Best!
Review: Few love stories fiction and non-fiction are as fascinating and tragic as that of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. This novel goes back and forth between the life of the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth I who was Henry and Anne's only surviving offspring and Anne's diary given to Elizabeth by one of her mother's former waiting women. The diary entries as well as what we are told of Elizabeth's early years are both historically accurate. The author is careful to incorporate fiction with these details and the result is a masterful and entertaining novel.

Having believed for many years what people had said of her mother, it is fascinating to see Elizabeth's reactions to her mother's personal thoughts and the tragic turn her life takes. Having resisted any ill thoughts of her father, Elizabeth is compelled to think differently after reading how her mother (and her young self) were used and cruelly discarded by him. The more sexual aspects of the diaries entries are handled well and in no way distort the historical accounts. In fact these passages ADD to the known history as it is a given that this was an enormously passionate affair which not only caused the ending of a marriage but the seperation of the Church of England from Rome and Catholicism.

Anne's diary presents her much as history has. A young and ambitious girl thrown into a large pool of sharks who had to fight for her survival. And fight she does, though to a tragic end. Her last entries, particularly one directed specifically to her daughter, Elizabeth, are touching and honest. If you enjoy Tudor history, you'll savor this book until the last page!

Rating:
Summary: Taken with a grain of salt
Review: This book attempts at going beyond the facts and trying to explore the feelings, emotions and ambitions of people that lived more than four HUNDRED years ago. While historically inaccurate, I found this book to offer something beyond Alison Weir or Antonia Frasier's stellar, but heavily factual, interpretations. If you want to explore with an open mind the story of what could have happened, then read this book. My only beef with this book had to be the awkward love trysts of both Elizabeth and Anne. These passages about the love making of both queens is out of place and unnecessary at best. Also the constant references to Anne Boleyn's sixth finger, a myth that is slightly possible and mostly unlikely, is annoying. Do not read this book if you are expecting a high brow look at the facts, or even a high brow look at this era. But for a little bit of guilty pleasure in believing this is how it was, this (slightly fantastical) version of the story makes everything just tie up so nicely, that you almost want to believe that there was a diary, and that Anne Boleyn did have contact with Elizabeth I beyond the grave. The reviews for this book so far have all been very true, the bad and the good, because the truth is that this book creates mixed feelings. Try it out, but don't buy it until you know that you are ready for something a little different.

Rating:
Summary: Great historical fiction, must read more!
Review: This was my first reading of one of Robin Maxwell's books, and I must say it won't be my last. I already can't wait to read the next two! However, I'm getting ahead of myself. This novel moves back and forth in time from Queen Elizabeth in the present, to her mother, Anne Boleyns', life in the past. Elizabeth is presented with a diary that Anne kept, which chronicles her life right up to very end. Apparently, it was Anne's wish that eventually Elizabeth would read her writings. Elizabeth finds any time she can to sit down and get a glimpse into her mother's life. It's also an escape for her, for in the present she is advised to marry quickly and stop her relationship with Robin Dudley, which is deemed inappropriate. Elizabeth gets to know the parents she never really knew, and uses lessons her mother learned in her current affairs. The writing is detailed, and brings you into both women's lives. And the author never makes the mistake of confusing the reader by not clearly separating the two stories. A recommendation for historical fiction fans.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Boleyn!
Review: The most fascinating thing about "The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn" is the mother/daughter thread. Over the years I've read a lot about Tudor England, but no one has ever given that all-important relationship more than a passing mention.

Robin Maxwell has drawn a portrait for us that displays parental influences in children's lives were just as important five hundred years ago as they are five hundred years later. This is a family book and would do good to share it with mothers and daughters, as well as sons and fathers.

Rating:
Summary: Wish I'd read the reviews first.
Review: Painful said it all. I got to page four and quit - sorely disappointed. I am becoming an addict for the royals, actually biographies in general. And I enjoy a story-telling as much as anyone else. But it was unnecessary to promote gratuitous sex, and more especially to do so at such an early turn. I was looking forward to reading the book after I had read that the writer had spent twelve years researching, etc. Those years and that effort cannot be recovered: the product sadly doesn't reflect the real cost of the author's work.

Rating:
Summary: Good for readers of Anne Boleyn
Review: I found this to be a great book.
It starts off with a chapter of Elizabeth, her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Virgin Queen. Then we alternate between Elizabeth and diary entries of her mother.
I absolutely love reading about Elizabeth. Everything she had to go through was so interesting, and she handled it all so well. I find her fascinating. Unfortunately I have not found as many historical fiction books about her after she became Queen. I do not know as much about her during this time and I would love to know more.
I had read Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer and thought that this also would be a good book. It was, but not the best. I found myself growing bored and wishing we could get back to Elizabeth. With Anne, it covers about 11 years, from when she first met Henry to her death. A lot of those years is waiting around for Henry to get his divorce. Not a lot happens in the middle years, between meeting him and refusing to become his mistress, and the divorce. The Elizabeth "parts" were much more interesting.
I did find it intriguing how Carolyn Meyer made Anne an ambitious girl trying to come out from under her sister's shadow, but Robin Maxwell showed her as a girl who was swept up by Henry VIII (He made the first move!) and eventually warmed up to the idea and did want to become the next Queen of England.
All in all, a good book, yet you find yourself wanting to skip the Anne diary entries. Plus, hostile feelings just come more and more to Anne, with almost no friends to turn to except her brother who was beheaded a day before she was, a former fiance who forgot about her after they had pledged their love to each other but the king made them never see each other again, and Henry himself turns against her after Elizabeth is born. You feel sorry for Anne but it was her fate. That was one reason I did not like the book as well as I could, as I like happier or more exciting times.
I do recommend that you read it!

Rating:
Summary: Quick read and good story
Review: I selected this book looking for a quick read on a short flight.
I am pleased to say that this book kept me quite entertained and I now find a new interest in Tudor history.

The story goes on a bit long with the political this and that between the church and government...probably more than Anne Boleyn would have really put into her diary...but it kept the situation in perspective.

I would say that this is certainly not die-hard history, but if you want an introductory look into Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, or Henry XIII this would be a good start.