Customer Reviews

Secret Diary Of Anne Boleyn

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4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just finished reading Robin Maxwell's latest, "Mademoiselle Boleyn." It serves as a sort of prequel to her previous book, "The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn," examining Anne's little-known years when she lived at the court of the French king, Francis I.

I have mixed feelings about the book, which I suppose fits as I have mixed feelings about the author. "Mademoiselle Boleyn" is much more interesting than other books of this type (i.e. "The Other Boleyn Girl"), mainly because it's hard to find books set in France during this period, so it doesn't feel like a sexed-up rehash of the Anne Boleyn wikipedia entry. There's lots of color and intrigue, and Maxwell, at her best, has a charming, entertaining and an enthusiastic voice.

At her worst, however, Maxwell can be sensationalistic, pandering and so in love with exclamation marks that Steinbeck would roll over in his grave. Also, her characterizations are not particularly successful. I agree in principle with her depiction of Mary Boleyn as a pretty but not particularly bright girl ultimately victimized by court politics, and her portrayal of Anne as a budding intellectual has potential (even though most of the time she comes across like an R-rated version of Drew Barrymore's character from "Ever After"). But some of their scenes are just unbelievable...

For example, King Francis gets bored with boffing Mary, and he decides he has the hots for her sister, so he tricks Anne into coming into Mary's Turkish/Indian fusion bedroom. Anne sees the king getting off on Mary and a bunch of other girls having a lesbian orgy on the bed, and she's so freaked out she runs away. The king comes on to her later, but with the help of Leonardo da Vinci she's able to figure out how to reject his Highness while remaining buddies with him. And only a few scenes later, she's shown palling around with her sister like nothing happened. Um... what?

Besides the uneven characterization, ridiculous dialogue and heavy-handed lectures on the suffering of women in the early 1500s, one of the biggest problems with the book was the language. It's wildly inconsistent, ranging from archaic words like "mayhap" to Americanisms like "ornery," "dragon lady," and girls calling each other freaks. And while I don't doubt that Ms. Maxwell did lots of research on the lives of royalty, she might want to read a bit more on daily life during that time, so she would avoid embarrassing anachronisms like Henry VIII's sister Mary getting freaky with patchouli oil, or Mary Boleyn nailing saris up on her walls.

I quite liked the author's previous novel, "To the Tower Born," so this was a disappointment to me. It was a quick read, but on the whole it felt contrived and overwritten. Maybe it's just Anne Boleyn, a subject that has shipwrecked other worthy authors. Hopefully Ms. Maxwell with have better luck with her next book.

"Mademoiselle Boleyn" is a very interesting novel that focuses on the early part of Anne Boleyn's life before she becomes involved with King Henry VIII and eventually ascends to the throne of England. This book begins when Anne is just a child and is sent away from her English home to be brought up at the French court. Anne quickly gains the favor of the French royals, including King Francois himself, his wife Claude, and his sister Marguerite. Life in France provides quite an education for Anne, who observes the way certain bold French women are inclined to take matters into their own hands when it comes to affairs of state and matters of the heart. Anne also learns firsthand how women are generally cast aside, as her father treats her with complete indifference and casts his eldest daughter, Mary, into the role of a sex slave to lecherous kings in hopes of advancing the Boleyn family's power. Eventually Francois takes an interest in Anne, who must do everything possible to resist the king's unwanted advances. Anne also meets and falls in love with the charming Henry Percy, and wonders if it will be possible to defy her father and marry for love.

I enjoyed this book. It depicts Anne as a bright, kind young girl who is used as a pawn by the evil men in her life, which is very different from the manipulative shrew many other writers make Anne out to be. Obviously, there are numerous historical inaccuracies in the book (like Anne and Leonardo da Vinci being BFFs), but I found "Mademoiselle Boleyn" to be thoroughly entertaining and a fresh new interpretation of the life of this infamous woman.

Everyone knows Anne Boleyn's tragic ending, but what of her youthful years? Robin Maxwell ties together historical facts with a bit of fiction to present Anne's blossoming from a child to a woman in MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN.

At the young age of nine, Anne and her older sister, Mary, are sent to the French court. Court life is filled with various intrigues and Anne quickly learns to maneuver her way around. The sexually promiscuous atmosphere of the French court soon overtakes Mary, but Anne is determined not to have the same fate. Torn between her friendships in the French court of Francois I and her father's insistence that she spy on the French, Anne must learn to walk a careful path or all will be lost. How will she avoid her sister's fate as Anne is starting to mature? Step inside the pages and watch as her formative years are revealed....

Before reading MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN, all I really knew about Anne Boleyn was her death by beheading. Robin Maxwell has opened my eyes to a period of history I had never really thought about. Her fascinating prose kept me riveted to the pages of this book long past my bedtime.

The descriptive imagery draws the reader into the heart of this tale, but it is Anne herself who makes it so powerful. Told through the eyes of a child, the debauchery of the French court is almost obscene. And yet, Anne continually sees the good in others despite their excesses. She is not naïve, however. Rather, Anne is a strong female and her ever growing confidence in herself is empowering and poignant, particularly against a backdrop in which women are so powerless. The comparisons between her fate and Mary's is startling poignant. Anne is not the only strong female, however, as Marguerite is herself a powerful woman. Even Claude shows great strength of character as she makes the most of a role she has been forced to take by the strictures of the time in which she lives.

Robin Maxwell infuses a passion and beauty into MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN that makes this an unforgettable tale of both heroism and the corruption of power. The note from the author at the end clarifies some of the history of the tale. The last two paragraphs left me in tears, as Anne's tale is all the more heart breaking. Kudos to Robin Maxwell for making a time period come so vividly alive.

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

Caution to anyone who does not like to read raunchy books. Some sections made me blush! However, as anyone familiar with the Rennaissance court of Francois I knows, Francois got around. Further, women at that time period were used as pawns to advance the power of their families. Thus, while the virtual prostitution of Mary Boleyn is shocking for modern tastes, ambitious parents would often push their (young and presumably unwilling) daughters into the beds of kings. While there is no historical proof that Mary Boleyn was forced to be the kings mistress by her parents, we do know that Mary Boleyn was very promiscuous while in France and later became Henry VIII's mistress. I have read that Mary Boleyn's family forced her to return to England because of her promiscuous behavior, but this does not mean that the cause of the behavior was Mary herself. Indeed, she later became a lady in waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon in England in Henry VIII's sexually corrupt court, so it is plausible that her parents were not all that disappointed in her behavior and that she only left France because Francois had tired of her and her "job" was done.

The raunchiness of the novel is also necessary to explain the forces that shaped Anne Boleyn. Anne comes of age in this corrupt surrounding and sees how her sister is humiliated and degraded because of her promiscuity. Anne carries this knowledge with her to England and refuses to give herself to King Henry for 6 years. Most women in her position would have given herself to the King as his mistress, particularly since divorce was not a realistic option at the time.

Another important facet of the book is the influence of Princess Marguerite on Anne, which has an important impact, as we all know, on subsequent English history. This portrayal of Anne as a highly intelligent women (which we know she was) and one who garnered great respect in the French court is very important to understanding Anne in her most famous role as Henry's second queen.

Lastly, the picture Maxwell paints of the Boleyn family is very helpful in understanding how a woman such as Anne ended up as the wife of Henry VIII in the first place. While we cannot possibly know all of the internal thoughts and machinations of the Boleyn family, we do know that they were ambitious. Maxwell helps us understand what it was to be the daughter of such a family and how little autonomy Anne actually had over her body and herself.

In sum, I think this is a must read for anyone interested in the English Reformation and Tudor history. This is also a must read for anyone interested in King Francois I and the early part of his reign.

In general, anything by Robin Maxwell is well worth reading. I love her writing style and perspective and her historical facts are well-researched. I always feel like I've come away with some new information about or understanding of intriguing historical figures. I must say that this novel presented an entirely new perspective on Anne Boleyn.

However, with that being said, I can't say that I found Anne's tale overly fascinating. I kept thinking that this could have been the story of any young girl experiencing life in a royal court. The French historical figures and their relationships and the wild debauchery of King Francois' reign could have made for a marvelous story without Anne's character.

Overall, an enjoyable and quick read. If you're offended by sexual material, you may want to pass (but, that was the nature of King Francois). I especially enjoyed the interview with Ms. Maxwell and the historical facts at the end of the book. Again, simply because of the author, give this one a try.

Very well-written, I couldn't put it down. The idea of Anne Boleyn as morally superior and upright is played out well in this historical novel. This book may go along with Joanna Denny's "Anne Boleyn: the New Life of England's Tragic Queen". It is interesting to contemplate the other side of the coin in the story of the infamous Anne...

Just when you thought there were too many Boleyn novels someone comes along with something like this and you realize that there is always space for fresh perspective. Unlike Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, Maxwell focuses on Mary's life in the French court. This is where Anne receives her real education in the world of men and where she blossoms from a girl to a woman. I haven't seen any other author write about this period of Anne and Mary's lives, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who can't get enough of the Boleyn saga. As other reviewers pointed out, the novel does have some raunchy bits, but they in no way detract from the story Maxwell is trying to tell, and overall, I'd say this book is well worth the price and time invested!

I love historically based novels, with one caveat - it must be historically possible. I wouldn't call myself a history buff, per se, but I am fascinated by European history. Unfortunately, historical accounts are often biased and incomplete, and I love that there are authors like Robin Maxwell who create fictional works creating possible pieces of the puzzle. This novel was full of intrigue and page turning fun, that was so much scandelous fun to read simply because it could've been true.

I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. Maxwell does a great job transporting you back hundreds of years and capturing the essence of the period. She gave me a new perspective on Anne Boleyn that I truly appreciate and will take with me to enjoy more books about her. I was disappointerd for it to be over and I am now on my way out to buy The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, also written by Maxwell. I recommend reading the Reader's Guide: A Conversation with Robin Maxwell (in the back of the book) before reading the book. It gives a great description of how she wrote her story based on years of research. If you like historical fiction based on true events, you will enjoy this book.

I am no prude, but I found "Mademoiselle Boleyn" to be unnecessarily vulgar in parts, and the vulgarity didn't appear to augment the plot, define Anne or her experiences in France. The dirty passages hang there like underdone potatoes thrown into the stew and never seem to be absorbed, they just sit there making you in many instances shudder and making you fervently wish yourself somewhere else. You feel like a voyeur being forced to witness something like a lesbian orgy, that you don't want to witness, and the description of the naked old lecher King Louis XII lying obscenely on top of his English wife, Mary Tudor, and dying there intrudes on the reader's sensibilities. You're forced to read revolting details you don't want to visualize.

Author Maxwell does a good job in fleshing out her characters- Anne, her sister Mary, Thomas Boleyn, Henry VIII, Francis I and other famous individuals ring true in the book. Although it is quite possible Anne met Leonardo da Vinci, her friendship with the old man is a bit contrived, but not really objectionable. The introduction of the fictional servant girl, Lynette, adds interest and piquancy. But there's something about this biographical novel that doesn't work and I finished it with no feeling of satisfaction, edification or contentment.