Tag: catherine parr

Book Reviews

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Book Review

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all doing well and today I am back with a new book review. Today’s book review is for Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. As a huge fan of anything Tudor period this book had been calling to me for a long time so I’m happy that I finally read it.

Before we get into the actual review, I wanted to say there will almost definitely be some spoilers in this review so if you haven’t read the book yet and you don’t want to be spoiled I would suggest reading my review after you’ve read the book.

Okay, onto the review!

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

My Review:

Wolf Hall is the first book in a trilogy of novels set in the Tudor court at the time of Henry VIII, they are told from Thomas Cromwell’s point of view. This was one of the things that drew me to this book, most of the Tudor historical fiction I have read previously has been told from the point of view of women so I was interested to see a different perspective.

It surprised me because in the books I have read before and all the adaptations of TV, Cromwell is an interesting figure, not many of them paint him in the best light – he is cunning and ambitious etc but this book is very sympathetic to wards him and I learned a lot about the things he did for the kingdom and for his family, which may have been exaggerated for the book but I think were still things he did. It changed my perception of him.

I found this book hard to get into to begin with, it is a huge book for one thing so quite intimidating, the writing felt a bit like an essay rather than the historical fiction I usually read however once we get into the story properly I loved it. This book follows Thomas Cromwell during his childhood, with his Father who didn’t treat him very well, all the way into his service of Henry VIII, how he worked alongside Wolsey and then gained Henry’s trust and this book ends as Henry marries Anne Boleyn and they have had baby Elizabeth. I am definitely looking forward to getting stuck into the second book soon!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read Wolf Hall? What did you think of it?

Book Reviews

Book Review – In The Shadow of Queens by Alison Weir

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you are all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you my review for the Historical Fiction short story collection, In The Shadow of Queens, by Alison Weir.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will do my best to not include spoilers in my reviews.

In The Shadow of Queens Plot:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

If you have seen more of my book reviews you will know that short stories are not usually my favourite thing, because they don’t give you very long to become immersed in the story and the characters in my opinion. However, this collection is split into sections each of them depicting the time period of one of Henry VIII’s wives. For example the first two short stories are in the time Catherine of Aragon was Queen and so on for all six wives. I enjoyed how each story was showing you something different, about the queens and about the state of England in general. My personal favourite was the short story that was written from the point of view of a young Anne Boleyn, while she was at the French court and her engagement to a young man. This story wove such a complex, emotional story that brought to life how a young woman had to learn that life wouldn’t be romantic or kind and showed how women had to learn to keep their hearts and not give them away freely.

In The Shadow of Queens Characters:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The most fascinating part of this collection was definitely the characters, there were stories told from the points of view of people within the court that you may never have known existed and although Alison Weir uses artistic license to create a brilliant story you can see how much research went into each story to give you a glimpse into people’s lives.

In The Shadow of Queens Writing and Dialogue:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I haven’t yet read her tudor queens series, although I di have the books, but after reading the short stories I am excited to get into the main novels because I know they will have depth and her wonderful writing style draws you right into the centre of the Tudor court.

In The Shadow of Queens Overall:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I gave this book four stars because I loved getting a peak into so many different areas of this period but short stories still don’t hook me enough to give this book five stars.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Behind every great king stands a queen. And behind every queen, the whole court watches on…

Over the years of his reign, six different women took their place beside King Henry VIII of England as his wife and queen.

But the real stories of the six Tudor queens belong to those who lived among them. Played out in glittering palaces and whispering courts, these are tales of the people who loved and served these women, and those who lied and betrayed them.

Collected together for the first time, In the Shadow of Queens reveals thirteen startling stories from the Tudor court, told by those at the very heart of that world.