Hayley Nolan

This book is trying to rehabilitate Ann as a Reformist martyr. The author's argument is strong. I've been aware of Anne's Protestant leanings and reading and that she did have a number of good works as well as a fine mind, and she and Henry were together on this for awhile - especially with Henry wanting to overthrow the Pope's influence as he wanted to marry Anne...the book is interesting, and warrants reading as a balance to most fictional accounts of it all being about sex and infatuation. It adds in the religious and political movements of the day, their tensions, and their effects on Henry VIII. But the writing is not balanced, it reads more like a screed. The author simply protests too much, and is constantly putting her own feminist ideology and religious convictions into the mix with lots and lots of sarcastic asides. A good editor would have really helped. You never see - or I certainly didn't - the person, Anne Boleyn in this book. She got lost in the author's argumentative presentation.… (más)