A Boleyn King

I generally love when authors create what I call "imagined history"--when they take real life events and people and tweak their lives.  For Tudor fiction, this "what if" history generally centers on whether or not Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen, or if she marries or not.  For author Laura Anderson, this "what if" moment is actually "what if Anne Boleyn hadn't miscarried a son in the spring of 1536?"

In The Boleyn King, the first in Anderson's trilogy, that son is seventeen year old William.  He's been king since his father died in 1547, when he was only ten, with his uncle, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, as his Lord Protector.  Queen Anne is also still alive at the beginning of the novel.  (She does die from a fall later on).  Princess Elizabeth is one of Will's advisers, as are two fictional characters, Dominic Courtenay and Genevieve "Minuette" Wyatt.  Will is ready to take the reins of kingship from his uncle and his regency council, but he must first turn eighteen.  As he begins his independence, there comes to light a conspiracy surrounding his birth.  There are several sects of Catholics who would dethrone Anne Boleyn's children.  The death of one of Anne's ladies, Alyce de Clare, brings to light the existence of a document called the "Penitents Confession," supposedly written and signed by someone who would know that Will is not Henry's son'.

Will, Elizabeth, Dominic and Minuette all ban together to try and discover where this document is, and to prevent the Catholics of the country using it as the flash paper for a rebellion that would place Lady Mary on the throne of England.  The end of the book has them successfully find the confession, but the epilogue is what is leading me to the next book!  (As soon as payday comes around at least).  The final part of Anderson's history is "what if Elizabeth still became Queen?"  I'm very excited to see how this plays out in this trilogy!

I've had this book for a few years, but I hadn't read it until now.  I tried, but I had a hard time getting into it.  I had that same problem this time, but once I got about a third of the way through I couldn't put it down.  I can only guess why I had such a problem getting into this book and the only thing that I can think of is that, as a Tudor historian, I had a difficult time with the suspension of disbelief needed when reading this kind of novel.  I've read other histories like this when I don't know the time period as well with no issues.

Regardless of my own issues, I really liked the book!  It changed point of view around the four main characters, and the men and their adventures were just as fully realized as the women, which isn't always the case with books written by women.  My only concern is that Elizabeth was not, perhaps, as fiery and opinionated as I would have liked.  William takes the temperament that I would have expected from Elizabeth, as his father's son.  I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy and see what kind of person Elizabeth becomes.

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