Anne Boleyn

By: Marie Louise Bruce

Narrated by: Gemma Dawson

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Few queens of England are as famous as Anne Boleyn.

Yet, who was this woman? What was her life like before Henry VIII became infatuated with her? And just how influential was she in reshaping English religious and political life during the early years of the Reformation?

Marie Louise Bruce's engrossing account of Anne Boleyn charts the rise and fall of this remarkable young woman through the course of her short life, from her early days at Hever Castle, to the luxurious courts of France and England, to her terrifying last days in the Tower of London.

By utilizing a wealth of primary sources, including the love letters between Henry and Anne along with innumerable documents written by courtiers and ambassadors, Bruce brings to life the splendor of the Tudor court and its most famous king and queen.

©1972 Marie Louise Bruce (P)2021 Tantor

factually inaccurate

I only made it partway through the first chapter when the factual inaccuracies became too much. This was poorly researched.

Dubious

I was hoping this book would be better. There are several iffy “facts” presented, and several outright inaccuracies. The author took a swipe at another author, and put words in the mouths of some key figures which I have never read anywhere else (after 45+ years of Tudor studies).

The narrator was annoying. Firstly, “Christendom” isn’t pronounced “krist-ten-dom,” and secondly, Henry VIII was seeking an ANNULMENT, not a divorce. The narrator seemed to think she needed to put the word “divorce” into some form of verbal italics EVERY SINGLE TIME the word was used. No, we get it - it’s slightly more expedient for a modern reader to conceptualize a divorce. Great. Now quit wiggling your eyebrows every time you say THAT word. We’ve all caught on - like 20 chapters ago. It became increasingly annoying as the book progressed.

My advice is to stick with Weir and Starkey until another high caliber historian comes along. I was hoping this book would earn a place on my Audible shelf of excellence, but it’s nowhere even close.