A Lady Raised High: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Laurien Gardner
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.95 You Save: $5.04 (72%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of A Lady Raised High: A Novel of Anne Boleyn
Book Review: Readers Beware!!
Summary: 2 Stars
I enjoyed the first Laurien Gardner book,and bought this one right away, expecting the same quality historical read. But this one didn't have the same passion or detail, and I didnt' care about the characters at all. I couldn't figure it out, until I read on a readers board that the books are written by different writers and the name LAUREN GARDNER is a HOAX.
Maybe this isn't so bad as the James Fry books, but still if readers buy a book with a certain writers name on it, they deserve to get a book by that writer, not someone else. It's a FRAUD and it's not fair to readers.
I will think twice about buying a LAUREN GARDNER book again. Writers and publishers, don't do this to readers or we will stop buying your books!
Book Review: Lovely Romance - Good Historical Background
Summary: 4 Stars
In A LADY RAISED HIGH, the author gives us a remarkable story rich in historical background of the rise and fall of the most infamous Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, mother of Queen Elizabeth, and the very first English queen to be publicly executed. It is told through the eyes of Frances Pierce, a simple, plain young woman who enters Lady Anne's circle after shielding her from an assault by an angry mob. While most considered Anne as a whore to the king, Frances saw only a beautiful lady and wished only to serve and love her with undying loyalty.
Frances was spellbound by Lady Anne. In the ways of the court Frances was extremely naïve and not of noble birth, yet Lady Anne needed loyal friends and sensing Frances' devotion kept her close. During those tumultuous times Anne found Frances' idolatry a balm for she was no fool and knew that while Henry loved her at the moment, he was capricious and she could only retain her place of power only by bearing him a son. When she failed at that, the vultures would move in and Henry's wandering eye and mood could be swayed by a new beauty and politics.
In the meantime, Frances' loyalty was rewarded as Anne arranged for a marriage between Frances and one of Henry's loyal Knight's, Sir John Carlisle. It was a surprise marriage for Frances who had secretly had a crush on Anne's brother George, but after the wedding night Frances found herself totally besotted with her new husband bearing him a healthy son. As Anne's inability to provide the king an heir and political maneuverings played out, Frances would remain steadfast in her loyalty to her queen, though Anne's loyalty towards Frances wavered. When loyalties became a dangerous pastime, Frances would have to make a choice between the queen she loved, or her family.
*** While this story seemed focused more on Anne Boleyn, the secondary love story between Frances and Jack was quite lovely. Frances' protagonistic attitude towards her future husband was entertaining, and their romance quite enjoyable, but both were employed as vehicles to give background to the rise and fall of one of the most fascinating woman in English history. In any event the tragic life of Anne Boleyn is surely an enthralling tale. I give this high marks for historical background and recommend it to all lovers of Tudor history.
Book Review: (3.5) "Ambition is a dangerous companion."
Summary: 3 Stars
When Frances Pierce, daughter of a baronet, uses her horse to block the mud pelted at Anne Boleyn, on progress with Henry VIII in Hunsden, England, she attracts the attention of the ambitious woman determined to replace Catherine of Aragon as Queen of England. Taken to court as one of Boleyn's personal attendants, Frances hopes for a better future than if she remained on the family farm. Enamored of Anne, Frances wants the scheming young woman to attain the throne, only vaguely aware of the perfidious machinations of court life. On a trip to Calais with Boleyn's entourage, the impressionable girl falls under the spell of George Boleyn, Anne's handsome and charismatic brother: "On that Muddy beach in Calais I lost my heart and I lost my reason." The Boleyn's are Reformists, urging Henry to follow the Lutherans' less ritualized practice of Christ; in spite of Anne's encouragement, Henry has not made up his mind, loathe to throw over the reins of the established Christian church for the more somber Lutheranism.
This is a story that's been told and retold, but Gardner gives it a slightly different twist in the eyes of Anne's handmaiden. While Frances is often irritatingly naïve thanks to her country background, and ever innocent of the subtle treacheries of the court, she is devoted to Boleyn by necessity, glossing over the woman's flaws, which are significant. The infatuation with Anne's brother is a bit of a canard, although the author uses the girl's crush as a means of more damning evidence of Anne's treachery when Henry seeks to replace her with another. The historical perspective is accurate, if weak in detail, Frances forever claiming "ignorance of men's matters", with vague explanations for events in English history. The novel is, rather, a more personal narrative of a young woman's early infatuation with power and a blind loyalty to Henry's consort, who was clever, manipulative and cruel in her single minded pursuit of the throne. It is curious that the loyal and honorable seventeen-year old would find such a woman sympathetic, in opposition to her entire family, but it makes for an energetic English adventure as Henry VIII continues in his quest for a male heir. Luan Gaines/ 2006.
Book Review: 2 stars
Summary: 2 Stars
Frances Pierce, as one of Anne Boleyn's lady's maids, has a unique perspective on the conflict that brought her mistress to power, and then to her fall. Even as Anne comes into favor, then begins to fall from it when she fails to bear Henry a son, Frances' own fortunes wax and wane. Often driven to tears by the capricious royal moods, Frances suffers the good as ill with as much grace as possible. Even her own marriage lies under the cloud of the court.
** It is difficult to define a true plotline in this story. Frances does provide a different sort of look at one of the most infamous love affairs of history. However, her own story is somewhat distracting from the more interesting royal one. **
Amanda Killgore