The time will come/I Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn wakes up the night after her execution to find herself stuck in an arrow chest; #historicalfact. (the arrow chest, not the waking up.) Not knowing what bothers her more; the waking up with her head between her knees or her cheap ex not even giving her a coffin, she decides Providence helps them that helps themselves and gets herself (and her head) out. After a quick turn around with an embroidery needle, she’s no longer in the ranks of Dullahans and Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner. and she’s a woman on a mission. Her two goals? Kill Henry (and maybe Jane Seymour, or possibly Thomas Cromwell; she’ll see how it goes) and insure that Elizabeth is not taken out of the line of succession (no future son is kicking her kid off the throne). Everything she does is more as a protective mother than as a vengeful spouse. Helping her along on her quest is Alice, a part-time prostitute from the Northern Fens, who may just turn out to be more to Anne then she believes possible. But that may all come to an end if Anne doesn’t discover why she keeps passing out at inopportune moments.
I absolutely love a book that combines Tudor history, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Kill Bill, and
Not that I’ve ever read another one; which is a shame, because it is such a deranged yet fascinating mixture. Seriously, every time Anne thought of Henry, or Jane, or Cromwell, all I could hear in my head was the klaxon (aka Quincy Jones’ theme from Ironside) anytime Beatrice Kiddo saw someone she hated.
When the Prologue starts out with an explanation of Anne’s execution, and how most trusted scholars today say that the charges of adultery, treason, sorcery, and incest were lies (and everyone probably knew it at the time), you know that you are not getting a Henry apologist here.
Out of the two main characters, I found Alice slightly more likable in the beginning to Anne. Not that Anne was horrible, she was just a product of her social class; all “me, me, me. do for me, obey me, who do you think you are? grovel, grovel”, with no knowledge in how to live in day-to-day Tudor life. Alice was a lot more down to earth, blunt, no-nonsense, and relatable. Not that I blame Anne for raging over Henry’s disrespect of her; her intelligence, her wishes, her dreams, her unwillingness to put her light under a bushel, her body after death. Like, Henry, Anne knows it’s probably your fault you’re not having sons; why don’t you? (Other than rampant ego?)
There is heavy symbolism connected to the Boleyns (and total props to Lehmann for adding in that the family name was originally spelled “Bullen”); a bull features prominently, as does Anne’s symbol of a white falcon. There is also an appearance from another English folktale figure, the Green Man; the identity of who is under the costume is never said, but based on context I have a pretty good suspicion.
I also liked that both Anne and Alice had loving, supportive brothers named George. (There is, however, no baby also named George.) Though Alice wins elsewhere in the family department (#fenpeopleareallypeople); other than Elizabeth, pretty much the rest of Anne’s family are pills.
Everyone else is written probably very true to life, or as close as you can figure based on historical data. Henry is petulant, Jane is simpering, Cromwell is the Nobby Nobbs of the English Court.
We-el, no point in going to war unless you’re on the winning side,” said Nobby, sticking the white feather in his helmet.
“Nobby, you was always on the winning side, the reason bein’, you used to lurk aroun’ the edges to see who was winning and then pull the right uniform off’f some poor dead sod. I used to hear where the generals kept an eye on what you were wearin’ so they’d know how the battle was going.”―
And the Seymours are probably a Mike Collins re: the Moon quote. And there is a lot of people quoting Panic At the Disco! towards Anne
(which probably did happen at the time; there is a reason Terry Pratchett wrote
“Always remember that the crowd that applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. People like a show.”)
The writing is brilliant; Lehmann can write a captivating book; I want to pick up her books of poetry to see what she’s like as a poet. But what I want even more is her to write a sequel to this book, even if it’s just a novella; I want to know how the events towards the end change how England would go forward. Because, trust me, a lot would change; European history in the broad view, a lot of people’s lives in the specific. I have questions, I wouldn’t mind answers.
(I would love to go further into this, but anything else I’d fangirl over would be a spoiler, and I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone who’d read it.)
I highly, highly recommend this book; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
And I’d also recommend possibly this Anne Boleyn finding a way to break the fourth wall and see Six; she’d probably love it (though Jane would make her vomit.)
