The Children of Henry VIII - Softcover

Weir, Alison

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345407865 ISBN 13: 9780345407863

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1997

Synopsis

“Fascinating . . . Alison Weir does full justice to the subject.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

At his death in 1547, King Henry VIII left four heirs to the English throne: his only son, the nine-year-old Prince Edward; the Lady Mary, the adult daughter of his first wife Katherine of Aragon; the Lady Elizabeth, the teenage daughter of his second wife Anne Boleyn; and his young great-niece, the Lady Jane Grey. In this riveting account Alison Weir paints a unique portrait of these extraordinary rulers, examining their intricate relationships to each other and to history. She traces the tumult that followed Henry's death, from the brief intrigue-filled reigns of the boy king Edward VI and the fragile Lady Jane Grey, to the savagery of "Bloody Mary," and finally the accession of the politically adroit Elizabeth I.

As always, Weir offers a fresh perspective on a period that has spawned many of the most enduring myths in English history, combining the best of the historian's and the biographer's art.

“Like anthropology, history and biography can demonstrate unfamiliar ways of feeling and being. Alison Weir's sympathetic collective biography, The Children of Henry VIII does just that, reminding us that human nature has changed--and for the better. . . . Weir imparts movement and coherence while re-creating the suspense her characters endured and the suffering they inflicted.”—The New York Times Book Review  

About this title

Review:

The royal family may have its problems these days, but as Alison Weir reminds us in this cohesive and impeccably researched book, the nobility of old England could be both loveless and ruthless. Weir, an expert in the period and author of a book on Henry's VIII wives, focuses on the children of Henry VIII who reigned successively after his death in 1547: Edward VI, Mary I ("Bloody Mary") and Elizabeth I. The three shared little--living in separate homes--except for a familial legacy of blood and terror. This is exciting history and fascinating reading about a family of mythic proportions.

From the Publisher:

Alison Weir succeeds in doing what very few writers of history ever have -- she makes it live. Her unraveling of the intricate intrigues and power-plays that surrounded Henry's unfortunate children Mary, Elizabeth and Edward -- and his young heir Lady Jane Grey reads like a suspense novel. This is history as it should be written.
--Margaret Sanborn/Publicity

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0345407865
• ISBN 13: 9780345407863
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432