Alison Weir is a name that has popped up several times when looking for recommendations of popular British history books. I thought that she wrote mainly biographies and added Anne Boleyn to see if I liked her style, so imagine my surprise when I realised that this was historical fiction.

Subtitled: A King’s Obsession, this novel traces the life of Anne Boleyn from her early years at progressive and proto-feministic courts overseas to her years being chased by the king, her short reign as queen, ending with her execution. As the book progresses, we get to see Anne change from an idealistic young woman into a power-hungry lady, determined to get the best for herself and her family. It’s basically the inverse of a hero-story as the older Anne becomes, the more unpleasant she is.

Although she does come across as rather unpleasant towards the end, I thought that the book was a largely sympathetic interpretation of her. She’s portrayed as a learned woman who believes that women are just as capable as men and who comes to the English court determined to marry for love. It’s only after her heartbreak that she decides that power is a good substitute for love and starts to encourage the advances of King Henry – that’s when her character downfall starts. But her reasons for choosing power and most of her actions are understandable; the world she lived in was not forgiving towards women and Anne was doing what she thought best for herself.

It’s pretty interesting to see the different interpretations of Anne and her family. The only other related novel I remember reading is The Other Boleyn Girl, which has Mary as the protagonist. That Mary was very sympathetically drawn while Anne was less so. The Mary in this novel is much less sympathetic, full of sisterly jealousy to her sister, while Anne was portrayed as more progressive (albeit ruthless).

Overall, this was an interesting interpretation of the life and character of Anne Boleyn. The author’s note at the end explains why she wrote her the way she did and it’s something you should definitely read if you’re into history. I look forward to trying one of Alison Weir’s biographies next.