BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel, 2012.

Henry VIII moved heaven and earth to get the fascinating Anne Boleyn-- divorcing Katherine of Aragon and becoming Head of the Church in England, even executing people. However, once he married Anne, made her his queen, and then she gave him a daughter instead of the much-needed son, he became disenchanted, her sharp tongue and strong personality no longer pleased him. He made up his mind to get rid of her and her scheming family. It falls to his right hand man, his chief minister and secretary Thomas Cromwell, to figure out how to make this happen for his monarch. It's hard to believe that any writer could take this old story and really make something fresh out of it, but I give Mantel high marks for doing so with imagination and creativity.

   A sequel to Wolf Hall, this novel, covering a much shorter period, 1535-1536, traces the series of events leading to Anne's downfall and how they occurred, as told by the now 50 year old Secretary Cromwell. This Cromwell has power and knows its uses, and the story really is about the power struggle between Cromwell and Anne Boleyn. The author provides us with a multi-faceted man, who can show single-mindness and cunning, as well as sympathy and care for those he loves, although I never felt I knew him very well. Mantel, though, knows her subject thoroughly and manages to bring well known Tudor characters to vivid life. Her writing style I found somewhat of a challenge--mostly because of her habit of not using Cromwell's name but "he" instead, which was confusing--but that didn't stop me from reading it.
   This is a dark and harrowing story, full of machinations and manipulations, grasping, greedy and mostly unlikeable people and dramatic, even sinister, events. The author's spin on just how Cromwell was able to oust Anne from the throne to make way for the meek and mild Jane Seymour is eye-opening, definitely informs the reader as to how dangerous and uncertain it was to be a member of Henry's court. It's absolutely fascinating and horrifying how by innuendo, threats, and insinuation that the case is constructed against Anne and the men she was alleged to be intimately involved with: Francis Weston, Mark Smeaton, Harry Norris, William Brereton, and her own brother, George Boleyn--all of whom paid the ultimate price for being associated with her. Even her powerful uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, is no match for Cromwell, and abandoned his niece to take care of damage control for the Howard family. Anne's own father distanced himself from her, as well as most of her court. Others, like the King's oldest friend, Charles Brandon, are happy the upstart Boleyns are being destroyed and watch closely. Friendless, desperate, and miserable, Mantel's Anne is brought down and destroyed. Cromwell has achieved the king's wishes, and he will get his rewards...
   An excellent, intelligent piece of historical fiction, well written and researched. I enjoyed it even more than Wolf Hall, and I will be interested to see how she treats the rest of Cromwell's story in the final volume of the trilogy.

ANNE OF CLEVES: Henry VIII's Discarded Bride by Elizabeth Norton, 2009.

When I was shelving bios the other day I found this title, shocked that I did not even know a recent biography of Anne of Cleves had been published. She has always been my favorite of Henry's multiple wives--not sure why--Because she was German? Not so pretty as the others? Somewhat socially awkward? She kept her head? I don't really know the reason, but I've always admired her in that she managed to survive her marriage to Henry and to outlive him and all the other wives as well, living long enough to ride along in her stepdaughter Mary Tudor's triumphant procession into London as Queen.
   Evidently, according to a promo in the back of this volume, Elizabeth Norton is writing a biography of each of Henry VIII's wives. If this account is any example, they should be fine for popular reading. In writing this biography of Anne of Cleves, Norton has used a number of primary sources, especially published state papers, and her secondary sources include works by scholars Retha Warnicke, Antonia Fraser, David Loades, and Alison Weir.
   How Anne became Queen of England is well known: Henry VIII, after Jane Seymour's death, began casting about Europe for a fourth wife, and after much looking around and due to political expediency, settled on Anne, a daughter of the Duke of Cleves. Unfortunately, the marriage was not a success for various reasons, almost all on Henry's side. Anne, for her part, realizing her frightening situation as the wife of such a king, agreed to a divorce and was able to live out her days as the "King's sister," receiving the largest divorce settlement in English history. I found the author's section concerning Anne's genealogical connections (especially to Henry VIII--they were distant cousins through the Plantagenets) and Anne's early family life interesting, but I was even more intrigued by what her life was actually like after Henry VIII died. Norton includes accurate details of Anne's relationships with her stepchildren, with Henry's last two wives, Catherine Howard and Katharine Parr, and her somewhat troubled financial situation (especially during Edward VI's brief reign). The idea that she might possibly remarry or move back to her native Cleves made for interesting reading, especially since I had always read that she wanted to remain in England and had no desire to return to Cleves. A helpful genealogical chart, notes, and index are included, and the insert of photographs added tremendously to the text. Agreeably written and fairly brief, I would recommend this as a good introduction to Anne's life. Anne of Cleves deserves a serious and extensive biography, but until that appears, this work is certainly adequate for most readers.

MARY BOLEYN: THE MISTRESS OF KINGS by Alison Weir, 2011.

Historian Weir has deftly sifted through available material to create this very readable biographical treatment of the "other Boleyn girl":  Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Not much is truly known about Mary--not even a documented portrait or a good description of what she looked like--there's even disagreement over her birth year and whether she was the elder or younger sister of the more famous Anne. Called "a great and infamous whore" by some writers (but not until years later), because of her brief relationships with Francis I and Henry VIII, Weir disputes that reputation, and does a credible job of putting together bits and pieces to give a better picture of the course of Mary's life. Unfortunately, because there is so little written documentation, Weir's narrative is full of speculation and what ifs and maybes. Sources disagree as to events and personalities and dates, and Weir is forced to make decisions based on actual proof and logic, drawing her own conclusions, disregarding sources that are considered unreliable or prejudiced. One longs for a contemporary's diary or journal to turn up and shed some light here! Advertised as the first full biography of Mary, it is a worthy achievement: the author has done much research on the Tudors and her times and is able to place Mary firmly within that context; she adds new information concerning both of Mary's husbands, William Carey and William Stafford; she clears up several misconceptions about Mary's life at the courts of the Netherlands and France; she gives plausible theories as to Mary's life during undocumented times after she left the English court; and she provides an interesting theory concerning the parentage of Mary's two surviving children, Henry and Katherine. Her appendixes concerning Mary's descendants and the portrait identification issues are fascinating and thought-provoking. It is somehow gratifying to know that the oft-maligned and misunderstood Mary's notable descendants include Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Prince William of Wales. I have enjoyed other works by this author, and overall, this was a good read, and the family charts, illustrations and notes that were included in this volume were much appreciated, even by this Tudor fan. Weir gets high marks for her effort here, but in the end, Mary Boleyn as a historical figure is still very much in shadow.

CATHERINE OF ARAGON: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII by Giles Tremlett, 2010.
Tremlett, the Madrid correspondent for the Guardian, has written an excellent biography of Henry VIII's first wife. Utilizing rich, and in some instances, previously unavailable sources in the Spanish Archives, he presents his findings in a well written narrative that even readers familiar with her story will enjoy and learn from. He devotes a good amount of space to Catherine's childhood and education; as the daughter of the great Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon who were essentially trying to unite their kingdoms and drive out the Moors, Catherine and her siblings continually moved along with the court as it constantly traversed the kingdoms, never staying in one place for long. Even so, Catherine evidently had a peaceful and happy childhood for the most part. Betrothed to Prince Arthur of England at a very young age, she was raised as a future Queen of England. He describes her somewhat harrowing journey to England to marry and follows events in a logical fashion: the death of Arthur, her limbo between widowhood and her marriage to Henry, the miscarriages, the birth of Mary, the advent of Anne Boleyn and the King's Great Matter, the beginnings of the Reformation, etc. etc., all told in a straightforward, readable narrative. Sympathetic to Catherine, he also points out that she was not a flawless character, but had her faults, mostly in her stubbornness and inflexibility. Although Garrett Mattingly's biography, Catherine of Aragon, is still considered the definitive work on Catherine, this nicely done biography should stand next to it on the shelf.

KATHERINE THE QUEEN: the Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII by Linda Porter, 2010.
Well researched and literately written, enjoyable bio of Henry's sixth and last wife. Porter has taken available sources and put Katherine's life into context of the times in a very readable narrative. Beginning with what is known of her childhood and moving through her first two marriages, the bulk of the book concerns her life with Henry VIII, and the last part concerns her brief time as Henry's widow and then wife to Thomas Seymour before her death in 1548. Porter really did a great job with explaining Katherine's Reformist leanings, her relationships with Gardiner and Wriothesley, with the Duchesses of Somerset and Suffolk, with Elizabeth and Mary, with Prince Edward, and most of all her "walking the tightrope" of a marriage with Henry VIII, who in old age was so irascible and changeable in his attitudes, a monstrous tyrant one minute, a caring husband and father the next. It is quite remarkable that Katherine survived Henry, as he was prone to boredom in his wives and was so dangerous concerning anyone who questioned his policies, particularly as concerned religion. Yet he trusted Katherine enough to make her his Regent while he went to war in France. The author also takes great pains to show how tirelessly she worked to bring Henry's children closer to their father and create a semblance of family life for the fractious Tudors, for which Henry seems to have been genuinely grateful. Porter's description of the power intrigues after the King's death is interestingly done: I never had any idea before that Katherine was such a politically astute woman who wanted to serve as Regent for Prince Edward during his minority but was in fact shut out--even by her friends at Court. The fact that she found some brief happiness before her death with Tom Seymour seems very little reward for this kind and generous woman.This long overdue bio as a whole suited my tastes very well: readable, educational, and informative. For all Tudor history fans.

Another book on the Tudors?

THE TUDORS: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyer, 2010.
An excellently written, fresh look at the five monarchs of England known as the Tudors. In a single volume, the author provides an enlightening, myth-debunking, enthralling narrative that covers all the Tudors from the founder of the dynasty, Henry VII, to the last of them, the glorious Elizabeth I. Great description but not so overloaded with detail that the reader gets bogged down, Meyer makes good use of his sources and recent scholarship on this era of English history. All the sinners and saints, statesmen, lovers, victims, the wives of Henry VIII, the Lady Jane Grey episode, Mary I's fatal Spanish marriage, the boy king Edward who wanted a second Protestant Reformation in England--it's all here and done up in very readable and entertaining style. One complaint I read recently was that the author presents too many bad (negative) aspects of these monarchs; I disagree, his goal is to de-romanticize them and make them more human. There were also complaints of events/issues/important figures being left out, but honestly, it's a survey type book, and some things have to be left out. The subtitle is misleading in that sense. I found the book well worth reading, and I would recommend it even for Tudor addicts who think they know all there is to know about them, and even though the length (600+ pages) could be off-putting, I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good general introduction to the Tudors, their lives, and that period of English history.