The story of how Henry VIII's obsessive desire for Anne Boleyn changed him and his country forever. By closely examining the most recent archival discoveries, and peeling back layers of historical myth and misinterpretation and distortion, Guy and Fox are able to set Anne and Henry's tragic relationship against the major international events of the time, and integrate and reinterpret sources hidden in plain sight or simply misunderstood.
A fierce, scholarly tour de force. The authors, a husband-and-wife historian team, are a dream pairing. There is an intensity to their research ... Their freshest insights are into Anne’s prelapsarian (i.e., pre-Henry) life ... Brilliantly shows how time, circumstance and politics combined to accelerate Anne’s triumph and tragedy. We see how the oscillating power shifts in Europe were as determinative of her fate as the more familiar plottings of the Tudor court.
A book that moves and informs ... These shades of light and dark are part of Anne’s enduring fascination: despite Henry’s efforts she seems so alive. In Hunting the Falcon we see her quick, bright in flight, her eyes still keen and her talons sharp.
Sympathetic ... The authors offer more nuance than the traditional view of Anne as a scheming temptress who would not sleep with Henry until he arranged the divorce from Catherine of Aragon ... A tragic historical tale delineated with admirable elucidation.
