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sophronisba 's review for:
Jane Seymour: Henry VIII's True Love
by Elizabeth Norton
informative
reflective
medium-paced
What I liked about this book was that it gave Jane Seymour some agency -- she wasn't just a meek, mild, dutiful wife in Norton's depiction. She actively worked to gain and hold onto her position as Henry's wife. The Jane in this book feels like a living human being instead of one of Dickens's insipid heroines, and I appreciated that.
What I didn't like about this book is that Norton could not extend this same courtesy toward Anne Boleyn, whom she portrays as shallow and scheming, a stereotype in the mold of Becky Sharp. (I don't know why I'm suddenly applying Victorian literary archetypes to Tudor queens, just go with it.) Norton's credulity about all of the most vicious rumors about Anne Boleyn even extends to repeating the long-since discredited myth that she had a sixth finger! My notes for this section read "NO SHE DID NOT GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT."
So it's a mixed bag for me. It is probably worth reading for an against-the-grain portrait of Jane Seymour, but be forewarned that basically everything she says about Anne Boleyn is inaccurate, unfair, misogynistic, or an unpleasant mixture of all three.
What I didn't like about this book is that Norton could not extend this same courtesy toward Anne Boleyn, whom she portrays as shallow and scheming, a stereotype in the mold of Becky Sharp. (I don't know why I'm suddenly applying Victorian literary archetypes to Tudor queens, just go with it.) Norton's credulity about all of the most vicious rumors about Anne Boleyn even extends to repeating the long-since discredited myth that she had a sixth finger! My notes for this section read "NO SHE DID NOT GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT."
So it's a mixed bag for me. It is probably worth reading for an against-the-grain portrait of Jane Seymour, but be forewarned that basically everything she says about Anne Boleyn is inaccurate, unfair, misogynistic, or an unpleasant mixture of all three.