“Go tell Anne Boleyn, chokers are back in again.”

This post is about a book that I really enjoyed. I’m aware that this topic may not be of interest to many, but I’m an admitted history geek. I love historical fiction and my favorite era would be the years of Henry VIII’s reign, 1509-1547. This book, The Queen of Subtleties by Suzannah Dunn, was a sort of sneaky little book that snuck up on me. I never heard of it, until I saw it on the internet one day and ordered it just on a whim, mainly because I just love reading any and every book about Henry VIII and his wives and that period of history. I first read this book this past spring and loved it. So much so I read it two or three times after that just because I thought it was so good.

Its about Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and has alternating chapters from the point of views of both Anne and the court confectioner, Lucy Cornwallis. There actually was a Mrs. Cornwallis on the court roster of the period, and Suzannah Dunn used that to her advantage to spin a tale that is utterly captivating and poignant, showing the lives of two vastly different people in two vastly different positions in court… and how they both get dragged into what ultimately becomes the death of not just Anne, but of many.  One of which being Mark Smeaton who plays a role in the lives of both Anne and this Mrs. Cornwallis. Anne was the mother of one of the most powerful and famous rulers of England, Elizabeth I. As a matter of fact, Anne lost her head more because she couldn’t have a son than anything else, all the other reasons were invented to give Henry a reason to get rid of her. He wanted a son to carry on his name and rule the country, yet his daughter by Anne, Elizabeth, was arguably one of the best Queen’s ever to grace the throne of England, and ruled just as well if not better than a man.

Anne was accused of many vile things when Henry decided he was tired of her. Incest with her brother, sleeping with over 100 men before marrying Henry, being a witch, and more. But the bottom line was that Henry wanted a son. His only sons were his illegitmate son with a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine (of Aragon, Henry’s first wife) and his son Edward by Jane Seymour (his third wife who died shortly after childbirth) who ruled very briefly and didn’t live past 16. He divorced his first wife Catherine on the grounds that their marriage was cursed because she was married to his older brother Arthur, before him, but really it was because she had one child who lived and it wasn’t a boy- it was Mary Tudor, Mary I, aka Bloody Mary. After his son Edward was born and Jane died, he was contented to have a boy, and got rid of his fourth  and fifth wives for different reasons. One was too tall, unattractive and “smelled” (Anne of Cleves) but the official reason was a pre-contract to someone else- she got off lucky with a divorce, and the other wife was  found out to not have been a virgin when she married him and also carried on dalliances with another man during her Queenship, so she was beheaded like her cousin Anne Boleyn (Katherine Howard). His sixth wife, Catherine Parr, got off easy- he died first.

Back to the book. The main complaint of people about this book is that its too “paraphrased,” for lack of a better word. Its based in fact, and most of it is true, but… similarly to Phillippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl, which was also a good book (and was recently turned into a movie with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson) some of it is from the author’s imagination or just speculation. Its written in a modern way- theres no old language in it, and nicknames are transformed from the original 16th century name to a more modern form. For example, Anne Boleyn’s cousin Madge Shelton (or Shelston, or Sheldon depending on your historical source) is changed to Meg,  Bessie Blount, the mother of Henry’s illegitimate son (Henry FitzRoy) is called Betsy here and the aforementioned illegitimate child Henry is dubbed “Fitz” in the book. The other complaint is that its “dumbed down” or “fluff.” I disagree. I’ve read and enjoyed Alison Weir’s books, and read books written in an even more historical textbook way, and also Phillippa Gregory’s books, and I loved this book because it wasn’t like that. It was an easy read. And most people who aren’t sticklers for history or who aren’t so filled with information about this period they could write a book about it, it would probably be easy to relate to, and for someone else who may not enjoy the formality of historical novels this book (and The Sixth Wife, also by Dunn) may be a good way to start getting into them. A book doesn’t have to be stuffy to get its point across.

So she uses slang- so what? Yes, she refers to Anne’s stomach during her pregnancy as a “baby bump” but whats wrong with that? And is it so hard to believe perhaps people back then didn’t always speak as formally as they wrote, just like today? And really, is that so bad? Is reading it in a contemporary text any less interesting than reading it as if it was written by Queen Elizabeth? Not to me. I thought it was a fresh spin, and I guess I “got it” and many others didn’t, since thats what Suzannah Dunn was trying to go for. If you read this page on her website, maybe you’ll see what I mean.

The book manages to reinforce history’s view that Anne was a strong willed and opinionated woman with a cruel streak just as easily as it makes you feel sympathy and empathy for her and her situation. The intertwining of her story and the confectioner’s story is pretty compelling, regardless of fact or truth.

I think it was a wonderful read and I’d highly suggest it to anyone who’s interest in this topic is piqued by this post and just wants to read an interesting novel about it or someone who enjoys historical fiction and already knows all the characters and players in this era. You can get it in hardcover or paperback at Amazon.com. But if you want cold, hard facts and historical details… go with Alison Weir.

The Queen of Subtleties by Suzannah Dunn