One Hundred and Ten Days to Fall: The Book List

The Best Fiction of 2009 winner on Sonnet 87 Book List was Wolf Hall—although I wasn’t too thrilled with Mantel’s portrayal of Anne  Boleyn (you know me), I greatly enjoyed her portrayal of Cromwell as a family man who sought power and influence all while maintaining his humble connections and loves. Mantel’s characterization of Cromwell is the perfect example of a skilled writer taking a man vilified by people like me and making him, well, likable. I said then and say now that I’m looking forward to her rumored sequel, The Mirror and the Light, partly because I want to see Cromwell in action again and partly because I want to see how she will handle Cromwell’s role in Anne’s fall (and how she handles his own fall in 1540). Mantel’s portrayal of Cromwell in Wolf Hall, however, doesn’t preclude what has gained much traction in historical research—that Cromwell sought to eliminate Anne before she could eliminate him—from occurring. I do wonder how sympathetic Anne will be in this rumored sequel.

What brings on the above speculation on the possible themes and plot for The Mirror and the Light? Alison Weir’s recent biography of the last four months of Anne’s life, The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn. Minute in detail, fascinating in exploration and firm analysis, the biography is an objective look at Anne’s last months and the machinations that most likely lead to her execution on May 19, 1536. Weir revisits theories and research she has done previously for The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Henry VIII: The King and His Court (both of which I read in the early 2000s), at times revising her own previous conclusions. Like Ives’s excellent The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: The Most Happy (winner of the Best Non-Fiction Award of 2006), Weir’s biography is a delight for those of us who like to dig for the truth of the Queen’s fall.

Weir’s biggest strength is that she’s completely objective in as she reaches her conclusion: Anne and the five men who died accused of adultery and treason were framed. In one fell swoop, the Boleyn faction was neutralized and then destroyed, Cromwell’s plan for the dissolution of the monasteries proceeded without impediment (Anne, although viewed as an early catalyst for reform, was a devout Catholic until the day she died; reform doesn’t necessarily mean the destruction of the Church as it stood), and Henry VIII was able to remarry a mere four weeks to the day after he last saw Anne during the May Day festivities (and merely 10 days after Anne was beheaded). While Weir does point out Anne’s various flaws—her treatment of Mary Tudor, her indiscretion at times, and her stormy if not unloving relationship with Henry VIII—her evaluation does not come across as hateful (as others have suggested), but as evidence that must be weighed equally along with the proofs of her innocence. It’s not a stretch to realize that Anne’s personality contributed to her downfall—to point out that she was less than a perfect queen isn’t to malign her, but to set her firmly as a human being with interests, flaws and behaviors that could be used against her by those who ran contrary to her desires.

Weir’s blow-by-blow account of Anne’s fall, from the time of her miscarriage of a son that would have set her firmly in a position of undeniable power* to the moment of her execution is gripping throughout. Weir’s description of the execution, using various resources to describe the event, is devastating; there is a mournful tone to the writing and one can’t help pausing for a moment after the inevitable happens. Weir goes onto examine the effect of Anne’s fall on Elizabeth I (who wore a ring containing her image and that of her mother’s until her death), the final resting place of Anne’s remains (Weir makes a strong case for poor Anne ending up underneath her sister-in-law’s memorial, the Lady Rochford, who gave evidence of incest against her husband, George Boleyn, and Anne; if true, poor Anne has an excuse to be constantly rolling in her grave), and her legacy in historical research and popular culture.

Overall, the biography is a satisfying account of the final months of Anne’s life, backed up by extensive research and objectivity. At the end, Weir includes an appendix of legends on Anne and her supposed hauntings. As an aside that has nothing to do with historical analysis, can I say that Weir is particularly skilled at writing creepy interpretations of these legends? I read it late in the evening and was creeped out for the rest of the night (though I’d like to imagine that I wouldn’t be freaked out if Anne appeared to me; I hope I’d go all fangirl and say “Ohmigawd, Queen Anne. I pink-purple heart you!” instead of running away screaming in horror). In an author feature at the end of the book, Weir mentions that she’s published a few ghost stories and I must, must find these.

Onto the book list:

Finished:

1) Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman
2) Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work by Tim Gunn and Ada Calhoun
3) Beneath the Lion’s Gaze: A Novel by Maaza Mengiste
4) Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
5) Destiny and Desire: A Novel by Carlos Fuentes; Translated by Edith Grossman
6) The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
7) Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
8) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
9) The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir

Re-read:

1) Threads by Nell Gavin

Currently Reading:

1) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Husband or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):

1) The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
2) The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
3) Empire Falls by Richard Russo
4) Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

*Here Weir hypothesizes that Anne could have been rhesus-negative, which would have caused her to miscarry every subsequent pregnancy after Elizabeth I, but it makes me pause only because of Katherine of Aragon’s problems carrying healthy pregnancies to term and having healthy and hale babies; the sickliness of Jane Seymour’s issue; the lack of children for Henry VIII after Edward VI’s birth; while it can’t be proven, I’ve always inclined to believing that Henry VIII’s genetic contribution wasn’t always particularly strong.