From the Publisher
A fierce, scholarly tour-de-force. The authors, a husband-and-wife historian team, are a dream pairing. There is an intensity to their research—the sleuthing through water-damaged documents hiding in musty collections; the reinterpreted ciphers and signatures in Tudor missives singed by fire; the telling marginalia in manuscripts and folios; the pithy asides from courtiers in disregarded journals. . . . Hunting the Falcon brilliantly shows how time, circumstance and politics combined to accelerate Anne’s triumph and tragedy.” — Tina Brown, The New York Times Book Review
“Compelling, absorbing . . . . a wonderfully rich book, thoroughly researched, with a wealth of detail and a fair-minded approach to its story.” — Wall Street Journal
"Better than Wolf Hall because it’s all true. The authors’ extraordinary scholarship in every possible historical source, as well as the vibrancy of their writing, delivers the seemingly impossible: a genuinely fresh interpretation of the marriage that produced Protestant England and the greatest of all the British monarchs, Elizabeth I. With a paranoiac court where mild flirtation could lead to torture and disembowelment, the story still has the power to shock: Henry Tudor meets Joseph Stalin. Anne Boleyn was a strong independent woman, and paid an horrific price for it." — Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
"The vivacious Anne Boleyn comes alive in this impressive study. . . . Combines meticulously researched history with contemporary voices and narrative flair. The approach is fresh." — The Times (UK)
"A sumptuous drama of lust, intrigue, and betrayal, underpinned by the harsh reality of politics." — Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
"An intriguing, thought-provoking, extensively researched look at the marriage that impacted and changed history. Readers interested in the history of the Tudors will be especially drawn to this book." — Library Journal
“The book is thoroughly researched, up-to-date and scrupulous in providing answers to matters of debate... Anyone interested in the facts behind the numerous fictional riffs on the Henrican court could not do better than to read this work.” — Times Literary Supplement (UK)
“The shelves are piled high with books about Anne Boleyn, so do Guy and Fox—appropriately, a husband and wife team—have anything to add? The answer is that they unquestionably do. Their book provides the most cogent narrative reading of the evidence to date. It leaves us in no doubt of the momentous consequences of Henry’s pursuit of Anne Boleyn.” — The Spectator
“The authors offer more nuance than the traditional view of Anne . . . . A tragic historical tale delineated with admirable elucidation." — Kirkus Reviews
"The authors’ research is some of the finest out there." — Sunday Telegraph
"This book is at once an education and a joy to read." — Literary Review
“The book is executed with consummate skill. As an exercise in storytelling, it is a formidable achievement.... Hunting the Falcon is a splendid read, a remarkably well-told account of the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn.” — George W. Bernard, History Today
Library Journal
09/01/2023
Fox (Sister Queens) and award-winning historian Guy (Queen of Scots) chronicle the tempestuous and passionate relationship between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII succeeded to the throne after the death of his elder brother, then fell in love with his brother's widow, Katherine of Aragon, and married her. Their marriage, a happy one at first, deteriorated, and Henry took on mistresses. Boleyn, known to be smart, pretty, and a skilled dancer, eventually became one of Queen Katherine's ladies-in-waiting. The book shows that Henry moved heaven and earth to marry Boleyn, casting aside his first wife, breaking with the Church, and ultimately establishing the Church of England. The authors stress Boleyn's influence and shrewdness and note that Henry had seriously thought of making her joint sovereign. The book portrays their marriage as multilayered and dynamic. But eventually, their marriage collapsed, and the book delves into the myriad reasons for it. The book's bibliography of printed primary sources for further reading is quite useful. VERDICT An intriguing, thought-provoking, extensively researched look at the marriage that impacted and changed history. Readers interested in the history of the Tudors will be especially drawn to this book.—Lucy Heckman
DECEMBER 2023 - AudioFile
Stephanie Racine narrates the authors' thorough examination of how the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn changed the world. Racine's British accent and tone pair perfectly with this meticulously researched book, which seeks to understand Anne Boleyn's rise to power and tragic demise. Racine meets the challenge of narrating passages in French, as Boleyn was raised in France and sought better Anglo-French relations. Using contemporary research to dismiss myths about the couple, Fox and Guy also examine the domestic and international repercussions of the marriage. Skillfully using tone and inflection, Racine conveys the passion, drama, and fear of those involved as she analyzes the impact of one of the most famous marriages in history. A.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-08-25
Sympathetic new look at Henry VIII's second wife, her ambition to share power, and her impact on international relations.
Historians Guy and Fox cite new sources and heightened interest in Anne Boleyn as the reasons for another examination of her brief life. The authors offer more nuance than the traditional view of Anne as a scheming temptress who would not sleep with Henry until he arranged the divorce from Catherine of Aragon and married her. Anne hailed from an upwardly mobile clan: Her father, Thomas, a leading diplomat, “had no scruples about using his children to achieve wealth and power for the family,” and younger brother George held key, lucrative positions in Henry’s court. Anne was schooled in France as a teenager, serving as one of the demoiselles of Francis I’s wife Queen Claude. When she returned to serve Queen Catherine, Anne was considered a Francophile with decidedly French manners and customs. This would not serve to her benefit at the English court as Britain inched toward alliance with the Hapsburg emperor Charles. When a son by Catherine was not forthcoming, and after an affair with Anne’s older sister, Mary, Henry decided on slim, lively Anne as the “love of his life.” She managed to hold him at bay until he broke with Rome in 1534, becoming an increasingly divisive figure at court as the long, winding negotiations over his divorce dragged on. Anne “envisaged a mouldbreaking role for herself” as Henry’s co-regnant, but competition and jealousy undermined her. Still, write the authors, she “would enlarge the role of queen,” before her failure to produce a son led the insecure Henry to demand that Thomas Cromwell supply ammunition to rid himself of her. Though she died young, Guy and Fox hail Anne as a woman “exercising authority in a deeply patriarchal world,” and “she stands proudly in the pantheon of history alongside her daughter, Elizabeth.”
A tragic historical tale delineated with admirable elucidation.
