Sunday Synopsis

The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many of us who read historical fiction based on the British Royal Family likely already know what happened to the Lady in the Tower (Anne Boleyn), but this book attempts to take us through events from Anne's perspective. I don't think the characters are as well developed as those in Philippa Gregory's books. Plaidy's books tend to focus on a romanticized view of historical European royalty.

This book covers a great deal of information about Anne's experience at the French Court. It also shows how her sister's affair with King Henry VIII did the family no good, and in fact, made them appear lower. Anne is set to change that when Henry shows interest. She keeps him waiting until either a divorce or annulment comes through from the Pope. When it doesn't, Henry breaks from the church in his quest to sire a male heir.

I won't give away too many more details in case you want to read the book, but this one follows Anne all the way to the tower and to the green where she loses her life.

Something that annoyed me about this book was her continually using the words "cruel mouth" to refer to Henry. And she speculated that either he could not have children or could not have male children. There is no reason and no way for her to have known or thought either of those two things at that time. Medicine was not a science like it is now. And she frequently described herself as "laughing wildly" which I also doubt happened. I think the author could have made a better attempt to remain historically accurate while still injecting some fictional elements or even some humor into the storyline.

View all my reviews