The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

I have read accounts and stories, and historical fiction about Henry’s wives before but never a collective biography, and didn’t know the stories of all his queens, particularly Anne of Cleves and Katherine Parr, so these parts were fairly ‘new’ to me, but I also learnt a fair bit about the stories of the wives I ‘knew’ about-things like just how long it took for both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn’s marriages to go through, just how strong of a fight Katherine of Aragon put up (and how long that lasted), and what became of Anne of Cleves after her divorce/annulment and of Katherine Parr, among other aspects. This book certainly took me a while to read (the one-month ‘break’ in the middle apart), but it was very readable and interesting, keeping my attention throughout. Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Katherine Howard And even though it doesn’t tell us the history of the entire Tudor dynasty, all six of its monarchs (even Lady Jane Grey) are here, and we learn something of each of them as well. But as Katherine of Aragon, Henry’s first queen came to England much before his was crowned, and two other wives Katherine Parr and Anne of Cleves outlived him, it also is the story of Henry’s reign albeit restricted to a telling of those aspects of his life and reign that was related to his queens (among them of course, his break with Rome, and his ultimate ‘takeover’ of all power in England, something that emerged from issues relating to his marriages but went on to become and affect much more).

This book, my first by Alison Weir, as is pretty evident from the title is about the six women whom Henry VIII married. Though I would have read it anyway, this also fit into my theme of this month- doorstoppers-at 600+ pages. Despite every intention of finishing it in June, I got caught up with challenge and group reads and didn’t pick this up at all but then again at the beginning of this month finally picked up from where I’d left off and completed it.

I started this book rather late in May as part of my ‘ Kings and Queens’ theme that month but didn’t end up reading very much of it for lack of time.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir