The Final Year Of Anne Boleyn by Natalie Grueninger

Book Review Nov 30, 2022

My review

3/5 stars

I've done a lot of reading on Anne Boleyn, but no amount of reading is ever enough (she's one of, if not, my favourite historical figures) and I'm always looking to know more about her. When I spotted this book on NetGalley, I was quick to request it.

What I appreciated most about this book is that it wasn't all about Anne's grisly end. It gave a full, well-rounded picture of how she spent the last year of her life, and made her feel human, instead of just a statistic, one of six. It paid attention to how she spent her time, what her interests were, the relationships that meant the most to her and the events that played an important role in her downfall. As a reader, I felt like I really got a sense of who she was, or could have been (it's always so hard to tell, as history is written by the winners - in this case, Henry VIII).

The book also felt incredibly well researched. The author cited work by many other experts in the field, whose books I have also read, and debated whether or not she agreed with their conclusions on the page. It was great to see her justifications behind why she did or did not agree with other historians on the matters at hand.

For someone who hasn't done a lot of reading on Anne's life or the Tudors in general, this book is a very informative, objective place to start. For someone who has done reading on the subject, it's less informative but does serve to give a different perspective on, what are considered to be, well-known parts of her story.

My main objection to the book, and the reason I didn't give it more stars, is that I felt like the earlier part of the book paid too much attention to details that didn't really matter to the subject matter. The one that really sticks in my brain is describing the layout and design of some of the houses that Anne and Henry stayed in on their progresses - while it demonstrates the kind of livestyle they liked to live, it makes no overall difference to the story being told. This did improve as the book, and Anne's untimely demise, progressed, but it made the first part of the book a bit of a slog to get through.

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book blurb

There are few women in English history more famous or controversial than Queen Anne Boleyn. She was the second wife of Henry VIII, mother of Elizabeth I and the first English queen to be publicly executed. Much of what we think we know about her is coloured by myth and legend, and does not stand up to close scrutiny. Reinvented by each new generation, Anne is buried beneath centuries of labels: homewrecker, seductress, opportunist, witch, romantic victim, Protestant martyr, feminist. In this vivid and engaging account of the triumphant and harrowing final year of Queen Anne Boleyn’s life, the author reveals a very human portrait of a brilliant, passionate and complex woman.

The last twelve months of Anne’s life contained both joy and heartbreak. This telling period bore witness to one of the longest and most politically significant progresses of Henry VIII’s reign, improved relations between the royal couple, and Anne’s longed-for pregnancy. With the dawning of the new year, the pendulum swung. In late January 1536, Anne received news that her husband had been thrown from his horse in his tiltyard at Greenwich. Just days later, tragedy struck. As the body of Anne’s predecessor, Katherine of Aragon, was being prepared for burial, Anne miscarried her son. The promise of a new beginning dashed, the months that followed were a rollercoaster of anguish and hope, marked by betrayal, brutality and rumour. What began with so much promise, ended in silent dignity, amid a whirlwind of scandal, on a scaffold at the Tower of London.

Through close examination of these intriguing events considered in their social and historical context, readers will gain a fresh perspective into the life and death of the woman behind the tantalising tale.