Hello everyone!!

I know it's been awhile since I have posted, but I read this book recently and wanted to give a mini review of it.

Ms. George has written an excellent book, although it is a “fictional” autobiography.  It does not start out with Henry, but with his jester Will Somers. The premise is that after Henry's death, Will finds a journal in Henry's belongings. He decides to give it to Catherine Carey, Henry's alleged daughter with Mary Boleyn. Apparently he hold on to it until the reign of Mary, deciding that Catherine should know the truth about her “father”, rather than the lies and such that have been spread about him. There are letters that go back and forth between the two, until Catherine requests that he cease writing her.

Henry comes in, and starts to tell the story of his life from his perspective. Ms. George migles truth along with artistic license well. We know he was raised among the women, as he was the second son. She portrays Elizabeth of York as a cold woman on the outside, not giving a though to her children. She seems to always be attending to Henry VII, with his paranoia about Yorkists and such. Henry adores his mother, and wishes she had been more attentive to him.

When Catherine of Aragon comes into his life, he is initially head over heels in love with her. He sees her as the perfect princess, beautiful, gracious, and kind. He envies his brother in his bride. (I forgot to mention that here they have him destined to be a priest). He is educated as such, which may give an understanding later as to his obsession with religion. When Arthur dies, he is devastated, but realizes that his life is going to change drastically. He hears of his father's treatment of Catherine, and wants to save her like a good knight. When he is made to repudiate his betrothal to her, it is not of his own will, but his father's. Reading what he thinks about her at this time, it is believed that he did love her.

Anne Boleyn is mentioned as the witch by Will, and eventually by Henry. They describe his courtship with her as if he was under some spell, that he did not like her, but could not stay away from her. She is not represented well here, but we have to remember that this is being told in the POV of Henry, who refused to believe that he was wrong. It was hard to read at times, but I could not put it down.

His relationship with Mary is portrayed in a good light, which is not what we all know it to be. He dotes on her, and wishes that she could've been more involved in his life. He constantly says that he loved her and missed her, which was nice to read. When Elizabeth is born, he loves her as well, but does not really talk much about her until she is a bit older. He sees her intelligence and cleverness, which he sees as a blessing and a reminder of her mother.

Henry's relationships with those we all know such as Wolsey, Thomas Moore, Thomas Cromwell are spoken of, and the consequences of each of their demises weighs heavy on him. His other wives are what we would expect, however the way his marriage to Catherine Howard ends is almost heartbreaking. He is so hurt by her actions that he said he would never marry again. But we all know he does. His relationship with Catherine Parr is a sweet one, although they discuss that their marriage is basically platonic, although they eventually consumate it.

I don't want to give much more away, but it is a good book to read. Her style of writing makes it easy to read and get lost in the world of Henry VIII. We all know him as the tyrannical king who did whatever he wanted to satisfy his own ego. *my own personal opinion* but we can hope that maybe there was some part of him that was as caring as he seems to be in this book.