I signed up to a Tudor Reading Challenge this year through a Goodreads link
My challenge is to read 15 books - I'll list them here as i have read them
If your interested in joining follow the link below
My Lady of Cleves: A Novel of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves by Margaret Campbell BarnesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my second Margaret Campbell Barnes novel, i love her style of writing, although written years ago they are not dated, just well written.
Poor Anne came to England not knowing anyone or speaking the language, is called a Flanders mare and made a joke of for her dress sense, but in the end she manages become one of the most likeable of all Henry's wives. People gradually see that there is more to this woman than first meets the eye, they realise that Anne would have been the prefect wife for Henry if he could only have see past his own vanity.
After the divorce Anne lives a comfortable life and thrives, this shows through and makes her all the more attractive. She and Hans Holbein have had a mutual attraction from when he first met her when he was asked to paint her portrait for Henry, nothing ever comes of it, but it's there all the same....Anne comes to realise during one of Henry's visits that Hans has been having an affair with one of her ladies, and Henry shows no sign of wanting to go home to his young new wife...and Anne, who has no desire of ever being Henry's wife again just once wants him to find her attractive and not the 'Flanders mare' he once called her.
Anne of Cleaves is probably my favourite of all of Henry's wives and MCB does a great job in portraying her in a good light, as a woman who holds no malice to the man who discarded her but as one who thrives and grows into someone who people love and want to be around.
The only gripe I've got about the book is the ending, i would have liked it to continue on after Henry's death.
View all my reviews
