The Six Wives of Henry VIII

By: Alison Weir

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

This acclaimed best seller from popular historian Alison Weir is a fascinating look at the Tudor family dynasty and its most infamous ruler. The Six Wives of Henry VIII brings to life England’s oft-married monarch and the six wildly different but equally fascinating women who married him. Gripping from the first sentence to the last and loaded with fascinating details, Weir’s rich history is a perfect blend of scholarship and entertainment.

©1991 Alison Weir (P)2002 Recorded Books

Henry VIII: The original malignant narcissist

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir is likely the best accounting of this great tyrant and his poor, luckless women. A tragic tale rife with pathos, the madness of a malignant narcissist with absolute power and the women who believed he loved them - until confronted with the reality: refuse or be incapable of giving him what he wants and you will pay the price - all justified of course, by his unrelenting self-absorption.

Henry VIII deserves the place he occupies in history. His women did not. .

Enjoyed this so very much

I will def purchase more Weir books especially anything narrated by Prebble. I love that he doesn't try to act out the voices much. Before I purchased this book I returned couple of other books because the narration was too hard to deal with. I was so happy that the further I went the more it pulled me in! I was looking to get thoroughly lost in history and I did. It was just as I had hoped it was be.

a great listen

so much vivid details. Even if your just slightly interested in the story or history, I encourage you to get this. I really enjoyed it.

enjoyable

I really enjoyed the book. a very simple listen and kept me wanting to keep going

Informative, historical and an enjoying read!

I have always been fascinated with the history of the royal family...specifically the Tudor era. This book gave a solid account of the six wives of Henry VIII. At times I found myself so engulfed in the novel that I felt like I was listening more to a story than a historical document. Allison Weir did a great job authoring this book and I am now moving onto “The Children of Henry VIII” also written by Allison Weir.

Great Author

I’m a fan of Alison Weir, I think that if History was presented in schools as she does in her Historical Fictions we’d have many more Historians. This is not Fiction… so I was unsure of my reaction. But, the book is excellent and well worth all the accolades. The narrator was also perfect. It will go into a collection to be listened to again.

Go Beyond the Legend and Enjoy the Real Story

This work is highly detailed, and avoids over dramatising an already dynamic story. The listener does not require a great knowledge of the time period as that the author guides you in such a way that you gain a balance between background and primary subject matter.

History. Explains so much.

Although long, it taught me so much about the complexity of immoral behaviors amongst the royal families and effects on their countries. Yikes!

Informative but dry.

It felt a little bit like reading a college text book. The information and research to create such a complete picture of his life and the lives of his wives is very impressive. The narrator was good, but hard to listen to in the car. His tone and volume fade at the end of every sentence was drowned out by my Subaru.

A nice companion to fictional novels of the era

If you could sum up The Six Wives of Henry VIII in three words, what would they be?

Facts Are Fun!

What did you like best about this story?

I appreciated that the book was based on historical facts, but not dry and uninteresting.

Have you listened to any of Simon Prebble’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Great as always!

Any additional comments?

Though this book is non-fiction, the facts are still so interesting that it's occasionally hard to believe that these things actually happened.