The Lady In The Tower

Dec 25, 2024 8:57 AM

Author:Alison Weir

Never before has there been a book devoted entirely to Anne Boleyn's fall. Now, Alison Weir's richly researched and impressively detailed portrait gives us the compelling story of the last days of history's most charismatic, controversial and tragic heroines.

On 2 May, 1536, in an act unprecedented in English history, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. On 15 May, she was tried and found guilty of high treason and executed just four days later.

Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest - did Henry VIII instruct Thomas Cromwell to fabricate evidence to get rid of her so that he could marry Jane Seymour? Did Cromwell, for reasons of his own, construct a case against Anne and her faction, and then present compelling evidence before the King? Or was Anne, in fact, as guilty as charged?

In The Lady in the Tower, Weir has constructed a gripping tale of betrayal and treason, wrought with her trademark forensic research and penchant for an enthralling narrative.

'The perfect examination of Anne's downfall' Independent

Reviews

One of our best popular historians...with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history

—— Independent on Sunday

It is testament to Weir's artfulness and elegance as a writer that The Lady in the Tower remains fresh and suspenseful, even though the reader knows what's coming... One of the pleasures of The Lady in the Tower is that it invites the reader into the historiographical process as Weir's emphasis on primary sources allows us to evaluate them alongside her

—— Independent

Weir...knows her sources well. She writes in an engaging way and adopts an even-handed approach

—— Irish Times

This is vintage Weir: a thrilling episode of history superbly related and treated with penetrating analysis and a great dollop of common sense

—— Jessie Childs , Literary Review

The research is exhaustive... It would be hard to imagine a more thorough examination of any comparable historical issue... Weir is to be congratulated on her impartiality and sound judgement

—— BBC History Magazine

FASCINATING ... this is a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking book.

—— Irish Times

ILLUMINATING AND ENGROSSING ... eloquent and revelatory

—— New York Times Sunday Book Review

FASCINATING ... genuinely illuminating, illustrated with a wealth of compelling detail

—— Spectator

Everybody nowadays seems to take a view on Pakistan. Very few know what they're talking about. Anatol Lieven is that rare observer ... Pakistan: A Hard Country ... fills a large gap in our understanding

—— Edward Luce, author of 'In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India'

The publication of Pakistan: A Hard Country could not be more timely ... illuminating as well as entertaining

—— The Spectator

With patience and determination, Lieven observes and records all aspects of the curiosity otherwise known as Pakistan ... A sweeping and insightful narrative

—— Mohammed Hanif , The New York Times

A fascinating biography

—— Lesley McDowell , Herald

This book is excellent

—— Andrew Holgate , Sunday Times

This dramatic biography recreates her tragic life and the turbulent times in which she lived...Nemirovsky is one of those rare writers whose life is every bit as interesting as her work

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

This is a scholarly biography of a literary paragon... It is saturated with her writings, revealing her passions, hubris, moods and anxieties, as well as her thoughts of fiction, Jewishness and mothers... Russian social history, anti-Semitism and the Vichy regime's collusion with the Nazis are handled adroitly

—— Maggie Armstrong , Irish Times

An epic novel... The suspense lasts until the final pages. There is no let-up. At the end of the book, you really feel that even though Sashenka is a fictional character, she has become one of the thousands of real people who haunt the Moscow archives that Montefiore knows so well

—— SUNDAY EXPRESS

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