The Most Fortunate

Well, I've just finished listening to this brilliant book and I am not ashamed to say that the final few minutes of this wonderfully told story had tears slowly running down my cheeks. There has been one, perhaps two other books I have had the pleasure to read that have elicited such a response so it is testimony indeed to the beautifully portrayed character of Anna of Cleaves that Alison Weir has masterfully written.

I have to now say that this fourth book in the Six Queens series has surpassed my enjoyment of all before it in this epic series. Perhaps the ultimate irony of all is how Anna of Cleaves was short lived as a queen and wife of Henry but outlived all other queens as well as witness the reign of no less than four monarchs during her life. I think Anna of Cleaves is overlooked when considering Henry's six wives given how short her marriage was to him and many would thus consider her to be largely irrelevant. I, too, did wonder beforehand how Weir could put together a book of such length given my understanding of her place in history but was so pleased to find how superbly well Weir fleshed out Anna's character.

As I've said before with respect to these fictionalised treatments based around historical fact stories, this way of portraying such historical figures really allows the reader to see these as real people with real lives and with such esteemed historians as Alison Weir at the helm, you know that any fictionalized elements will be both be woven seamlessly together and very plausibly with the known historical facts.


Anne Boleyn's motto may have been "The Most Happy" but surely Anna of Cleaves should be "The Most Fortunate". She had her troubles in later life with money and died far too young but did far better than any of Henry's other queens I think

Esther Wane did a wonderful job of narration with convincing German and French accents. However, one minor discrepancy I did note was that the Margaret Douglas character lost her Scottish accent compared to her rendition in the prior book in the series. This appears to be either an oversight in the production given Douglas's Scottish heritage or maybe the narrator wasn't able to render a decent Scottish accent.

This story really surprised and pleased me and was rather an unexpected treat given my very little knowledge of this woman. Weir has worked such magic here with Henry's fourth wife and I really liked the person she has been shown to be in this excellent story.

5 people found this helpful

Did she really?

Book 4 of Alison Weir's Six Wives of Henry VIII was better than expected. I've been watching the boxset of The Tudors and we have watched the series covering Anne of Kleves so this book covers nicely who Anne of Kleves really was, to a point.

I was pleasantly surprised to read about wife 5, Catherine Howard and wife 6 Catherine Parr in this book and also the reigns of Edward and Mary with a quick mention of Jane (the 7 day queen).

This book is classed as fiction and I'm guessing what is a great biv part of fiction is .... well, I won't say as you'll have to read or listen to that yourself.

enjoyable narrative with deep and light tones of voice to cover both genders.

1 person found this helpful

Not sure how much of this is true!

I’ve read many books about the Tudor Queens but this one is by far the most unusual. I can only assume that much is made up and maybe a bit far fetched. Some of the stories cannot be true as I have never heard the likes of it before. I still enjoyed the book though as it is well written and read.

1 person found this helpful

Fabulous story , so moving

I really enjoyed this story and who cares if it is a little romanticised, it was read so well and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Poor Anna , but at least she got to live and love unlike the other wives .

amazing

love this series, makes you really think of each story in a new light and bribgs it all to life! loved this one, new love for Anna Of Kleve

Continued excellence

Brilliant narrative, expertly delivered story in the little publicised story of Anna of Kleve. Whether true fact or fiction a phemonimal read, Cannot wait for the next book.

captivating

Just so so great, lovely narration, the depth and texture lept out to the point where I was completely absorbed in Anna's world. I couldn't stop the tears coming at the end! Also I now realise I've been pronouncing Kleve all wrong

it's Kleve like wafer not Cleeves like sleeves 😁

Brilliant

It was wonderful to discover a book from the point of view of this often forgotten Queen. Beautiful, sad ending.

Amazing!

Incredibly moving account of the life of perhaps the least well known of the 6 wives of Henry VIII. Beautifully read.

Love this series

Listening to the women's side of history is lovely. really brings the perils of women in Tudor times