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Anne Boleyn
A daredevil beauty stakes all and loses in the great game of kings and kingdoms…
Henry the Eighth was wedded to a total of six wives.
E. Barrington tells the romantic history of the most beautiful and vivid of them all - his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Anne rises to fame when she captures the heart of King Henry.
He is married to Katharine of Aragon, but she is six years his senior, and though she has provided him with sons throughout their marriage, they have all died.
Henry is desperate for an heir, and he becomes captivated by the mysterious and shrewd Anne Boleyn.
But Christian law stands in his way, and their courtship is put on hold as he battles those in power to gain a divorce from Katharine.
And the moment Anne finally gets what she wants - the crown - is also the moment her downfall begins…
Barrington’s classic novel portrays Anne as shrewd, lovely, ambitious, generous, disillusioned, and resolved to capitalize her beauty for her own ends. This is the story of Anne, but also of the days of Anne - when the question over a woman’s virtue was paramount in the great game of kings and kingdoms…
E Barrington is a pseudonym of Elizabeth Louisa Moresby (1862 – 3 January 1931), a British-born novelist who became the first prolific, female fantasy writer in Canada. Her other historical novels include ‘Glorious The Life of Lord Byron’, ‘Queen of A Novel of Marie Antoinette’ and ‘The Laughing A Novel of Cleopatra’.
Endeavour Press is the UK’s leading independent publisher of digital books.
Henry the Eighth was wedded to a total of six wives.
E. Barrington tells the romantic history of the most beautiful and vivid of them all - his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Anne rises to fame when she captures the heart of King Henry.
He is married to Katharine of Aragon, but she is six years his senior, and though she has provided him with sons throughout their marriage, they have all died.
Henry is desperate for an heir, and he becomes captivated by the mysterious and shrewd Anne Boleyn.
But Christian law stands in his way, and their courtship is put on hold as he battles those in power to gain a divorce from Katharine.
And the moment Anne finally gets what she wants - the crown - is also the moment her downfall begins…
Barrington’s classic novel portrays Anne as shrewd, lovely, ambitious, generous, disillusioned, and resolved to capitalize her beauty for her own ends. This is the story of Anne, but also of the days of Anne - when the question over a woman’s virtue was paramount in the great game of kings and kingdoms…
E Barrington is a pseudonym of Elizabeth Louisa Moresby (1862 – 3 January 1931), a British-born novelist who became the first prolific, female fantasy writer in Canada. Her other historical novels include ‘Glorious The Life of Lord Byron’, ‘Queen of A Novel of Marie Antoinette’ and ‘The Laughing A Novel of Cleopatra’.
Endeavour Press is the UK’s leading independent publisher of digital books.
404 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1932
About the author
E. Barrington
49 books9 followersPseudonym of Elizabeth Louisa Moresby.
Elizabeth Louisa "Lily" Moresby was born on late 1862 in Queenstown, Cork, Ireland, UK, the second child of Irish Jane Willis (Scott) and English John Moresby, a Royal Navy Captain who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. She was grand-daughter of Eliza Louisa and Fairfax Moresby. She had a eldest brother Walter Halliday, and four youngest sisters Ethel Fortescue, Georgina, Hilda Fairfax and Gladys Moresby. Due to he father's work and her marriage to a Royal Navy commander Edward Western Hodgkinson, she lived and traveled widely in the East, in Egypt, India, China, Tibet, and Japan. Asian culture would greatly influence her and became a staunch Buddhist. She collabored in the writing of her father's book. Two Admirals: Sir John Moresby and John Moresby (1909).
After widowing around 1910, she remarried in 1912 to retired solicitor Ralph Coker Adams Beck. In 1919, the marriage visit Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where she settled alone eventually. Surrounded by her Oriental art and Oriental servants, she entertained fortnightly at her home on Mountjoy Avenue in Oak Bay as a strict vegetarian with ascetic inclinations.
She began her writing career publishing short-stories for Newspapers and Magazzines. She was 60 years old by the time she started to publishing her first books. She used various pen names such as L. Adams Beck for books in oriental setting or about esoteric themes, E. Barrington for novelized biographies of British historical figures, and Louis Moresby for novles set in exotic locales.
She returned to Asia, and continued to write until her death on 3 January 1931 in Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, Japan.
Elizabeth Louisa "Lily" Moresby was born on late 1862 in Queenstown, Cork, Ireland, UK, the second child of Irish Jane Willis (Scott) and English John Moresby, a Royal Navy Captain who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. She was grand-daughter of Eliza Louisa and Fairfax Moresby. She had a eldest brother Walter Halliday, and four youngest sisters Ethel Fortescue, Georgina, Hilda Fairfax and Gladys Moresby. Due to he father's work and her marriage to a Royal Navy commander Edward Western Hodgkinson, she lived and traveled widely in the East, in Egypt, India, China, Tibet, and Japan. Asian culture would greatly influence her and became a staunch Buddhist. She collabored in the writing of her father's book. Two Admirals: Sir John Moresby and John Moresby (1909).
After widowing around 1910, she remarried in 1912 to retired solicitor Ralph Coker Adams Beck. In 1919, the marriage visit Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where she settled alone eventually. Surrounded by her Oriental art and Oriental servants, she entertained fortnightly at her home on Mountjoy Avenue in Oak Bay as a strict vegetarian with ascetic inclinations.
She began her writing career publishing short-stories for Newspapers and Magazzines. She was 60 years old by the time she started to publishing her first books. She used various pen names such as L. Adams Beck for books in oriental setting or about esoteric themes, E. Barrington for novelized biographies of British historical figures, and Louis Moresby for novles set in exotic locales.
She returned to Asia, and continued to write until her death on 3 January 1931 in Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 9, 2015
This reminded me a lot of Norah Lift’s take on Anne Boleyn, (I believe both books were written around the same time) but with more emphasis here on how Anne was changed by power – or rather, the illusion of power – becoming more and more demanding the closer she came to becoming queen.
The book starts out with an excellent way to give the reader a lot of information at once Anne and her sister Mary are in the middle of a huge, no holds barred, drag out fight, and in the course of screaming insults, the scene manages to get quite a lot of back story conveyed, as well as establishes the conflicting personalities of Anne and Mary.
Anne flounces off to court, leaving Mary to suffer in exile, and starts off cold eyed and cold hearted, sizing up the situation to see how much she can get out of court life.
The book follows her rise and fall, examining how things could have been misconstrued, showing what mistakes let her enemies could have used to take her down, as well as showcasing what a triumph she actually pulled off, despite not succeeding in the end.
The book portrays Anne 100% innocent on the adultery charge and does not hold back on throwing plenty of other blame around on everyone else.
A great retelling of the life of Anne Boleyn, giving the woman full credit for her successes as well as full blame for mistakes, letting her be a fully realized human character.
September 4, 2015
There were two major issues that I had with this book. First off, I found Barrington's version of Anne to be difficult to connect with. Anne isn't my favorite of Henry's wives, but I do like her, and I just found this portrayal of her to be very flat and un-engaging. The other issue I had with this book was the author's writing style. While I was reading this I knew it was fiction, but it kind of felt like Barrington was trying to write it as non-fiction. I didn't feel that the story flowed very well. There are definitely better books about Anne out there, both fiction and non-fiction, that I would recommend over this one.
Received from NetGalley.
Received from NetGalley.
January 5, 2023
Well , i have not read many of these books about Anne Boleyn but this one was somehow different , I'm a beginner , i just start liking these books I feel joy and calming and relaxed while reading them , i found this in my school's library, the cover made me wanting to read like it was supposed to be in my hands , without thinking I chosed this one , the starting was Lil boring but when I read it deeply while feeling the words they wrote made me feel amazing but when i think about queen Anne Boleyn she was always so cool and mysterious , but in this story i kinda feel bored after all , it was confusing like you have to read it 2,3 times then you're gonna understand but somehow I read it to the end ..and I think it was ok ... Like Anne the main character should be more noticeable but it wasn't... So yeah ..
May 19, 2020
Well, I think we all know who Anne Boleyn is, she is the second wife of King Henry the Eighth and probably the most famous one of six of them. And who doesn't like to read books about her, even if most of them are fiction? I personally do, and when I saw this one on NetGalley, I'm not going to lie, the cover drew me in right away and it had been a while since I have read a Anne Boleyn story so I was glad that got a chance to read it and I have finally to some time to really sit down and read, since we are all in quarantine and more time in our hands, right?
I'm not going to lie, this was not was I was expecting, Anne Boleyn's books and movies are always full of action, and upbeat and on the go, do you know what I mean? But this one? It dragged a lot for the first three quarters of it, but I pushed through it and I got to the end of it and it was okay. I was not in love with the writing and the way the story went from one point to the next it was confusing at times. Anne was kind of boring too, and she was not supposed to be, in my opinion and towards the end I was expecting her to go more crazy and desperate and she really wasn't and that disappointed me too.
Overall? It was an okay book to read, it took me a few more days that I like but I got to the end of it lol.
3 out of 5 stars
I'm not going to lie, this was not was I was expecting, Anne Boleyn's books and movies are always full of action, and upbeat and on the go, do you know what I mean? But this one? It dragged a lot for the first three quarters of it, but I pushed through it and I got to the end of it and it was okay. I was not in love with the writing and the way the story went from one point to the next it was confusing at times. Anne was kind of boring too, and she was not supposed to be, in my opinion and towards the end I was expecting her to go more crazy and desperate and she really wasn't and that disappointed me too.
Overall? It was an okay book to read, it took me a few more days that I like but I got to the end of it lol.
3 out of 5 stars
June 16, 2022
A historical mess
The whole book is a mess of inconsistencies. Anne jumps from place to place, moments don't line up at all to the timeline and the plot jumps from one thread to the next with no explanation. Anne is written as a brazen, cold hearted, ambitious vixen.
The whole book is a mess of inconsistencies. Anne jumps from place to place, moments don't line up at all to the timeline and the plot jumps from one thread to the next with no explanation. Anne is written as a brazen, cold hearted, ambitious vixen.
July 29, 2021
Found the language difficult to follow at times. Thought I would give up early on but did finish the book.
August 3, 2023
This book was kind of hard to rate, and honestly a tad hard to finish.
The writing was quite good, approaching beautiful in some parts. The history was a bit shaky at times, but I'm aware I'm more likely to notice that than some people and honestly, I'm willing to let that slide most of the time as long as it is fun to read.
That was the book's downfall.
Anne was remarkably hard to connect to. I've seen her done conniving and vicious and I've seen her done thoughtful and clever, and I've enjoyed both sides. This novel's main issue was that the author couldn't quite seem to decide which way she wanted to go.
It is a valid argument that Anne was, on some level, both, but the shifts between the two felt like there were multiple people writing Anne here and they couldn't agree on how to portray her. She was often thoughtful and even silly when she should have been conniving. She made mistakes that didn't seem to spring from her character, but from the need to keep connected to the history of things. I felt like instead of writing Anne to slowly fill in the spaces between historical events, flowing over and through them and inhabiting them as you sometimes see in truly great historical fiction, they were road bumps in the path of this character that was maybe Anne and maybe not.
That is honestly my major problem. Anne was just sort of...there. She didn't come to life and sparkle because I could never guess what she would do next, even when I knew the facts that she needed to fit into.
The writing did make up for this somewhat, but the lack of sparkle made it slow-going for me. If you're interested in the time period with Anne as the center point, it's not a bad book by any means, and I am interested enough in the author to consider picking up something else by her, but it was not quite what I was hoping for.
This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The writing was quite good, approaching beautiful in some parts. The history was a bit shaky at times, but I'm aware I'm more likely to notice that than some people and honestly, I'm willing to let that slide most of the time as long as it is fun to read.
That was the book's downfall.
Anne was remarkably hard to connect to. I've seen her done conniving and vicious and I've seen her done thoughtful and clever, and I've enjoyed both sides. This novel's main issue was that the author couldn't quite seem to decide which way she wanted to go.
It is a valid argument that Anne was, on some level, both, but the shifts between the two felt like there were multiple people writing Anne here and they couldn't agree on how to portray her. She was often thoughtful and even silly when she should have been conniving. She made mistakes that didn't seem to spring from her character, but from the need to keep connected to the history of things. I felt like instead of writing Anne to slowly fill in the spaces between historical events, flowing over and through them and inhabiting them as you sometimes see in truly great historical fiction, they were road bumps in the path of this character that was maybe Anne and maybe not.
That is honestly my major problem. Anne was just sort of...there. She didn't come to life and sparkle because I could never guess what she would do next, even when I knew the facts that she needed to fit into.
The writing did make up for this somewhat, but the lack of sparkle made it slow-going for me. If you're interested in the time period with Anne as the center point, it's not a bad book by any means, and I am interested enough in the author to consider picking up something else by her, but it was not quite what I was hoping for.
This book was provided to me for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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September 5, 2015I did not finish this book, I was really excited to read it given I love the Tudors especially the story of Anne Boleyn but I just couldn't connect with this story.
I didn't like the way Anne was portrayed straight off, yes I know it's a fiction books but there's nothing wrong with getting the facts right and a few times I read wrong information it put me off.
sorry
I didn't like the way Anne was portrayed straight off, yes I know it's a fiction books but there's nothing wrong with getting the facts right and a few times I read wrong information it put me off.
sorry
October 20, 2010
Not a bad Anne Boleyn novel but not one of the best. Elegantly written but gets a bit tedious at times. Anne is portrayed in a rather negative light, as extremely calculating which probably is too one sided. On the whole, it is readable but not great.
September 4, 2015
I honestly cannot make up my mind about this book. One minute the main character is strong and capable and then next she is simpering and almost empty headed. The book is written in a lovely poetic way but at times became somewhat tedious.
February 1, 2012
This book is not entirely accurate historically, but is one of the most beautifully written historical fiction novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
October 23, 2013
It was a good book. I felt that maybe Anne might have been warn about not to talk to Smeaton prior to her down fall. It do seem like some people would have warn her.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews