suzie2006 's review for:

Anna of Kleve: The Princess in the Portrait by Alison Weir

3.0

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I have been looking forward to reading this installment of "Six Tudor Queens" by Alison Weir. I have immensely enjoyed the previous three books, but found this one lacking. I almost put it back on the shelf after the first 20 pages, but decided to push through and "set aside" the event described. However, it impacted the entire book, and you cannot just "set it aside." I read the entire book and while it was good, it was not excellent. There are some things in it that seem so far fetched, in that there are no whispers of truth to them, when trying to establish a fact pattern. Even the author admits that she took liberties with the opening section of the book, and concedes that it is not based in fact. While I understand that little is known about Anna of Kleve, I didn't enjoy the liberties taken in the opening paragraphs that end up pervading the entire book. If you can set aside the mantle of dramatized history and just read it as a purely fictional story written about a real person, then you will be able to enjoy it. Once I was able to do this, it was a good book. If you read it wanting it to be based in some modicum of fact, you will be sorely disappointed.