About the Book
Much has been written about the mighty, egotistical Henry VIII: the man who dismantled the Church because it would not grant him the divorce he wanted; who married six women and beheaded two of them; who executed his friend Thomas More; who sacked the monasteries; who longed for a son and neglected his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth; who finally grew fat, disease-ridden, dissolute.
Now, in her magnificent work of storytelling and imagination, Margaret George bring us Henry VIII’s story as he himself might have told it, in memoirs interspersed with irreverent comments from his jester and confidant, Will Somers. Brilliantly combining history, wit, dramatic narrative, and an extraordinary grasp of the pleasures and perils of power, this monumental novel shows us Henry the man more vividly than he has ever been seen before.
Praise
“Encapturing entertainment for the historical-novel audience.” – Kirkus
“George has made a tremendous leap of the historical imagination and produced an infinitely variegated book… Immensely readable.’
– Cleveland Plain Dealer
“The material is almost unbeatable, but what George does with it is rather astonishing. This is a stylistic tour de force. There’s rousing drama, robust atmosphere and consistently solid characterizations; and finally, Margaret George’s triumph is anchored in the urgent rhythm her writing attains.” – Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“The book is beautifully and lyrically written, it not only narrates historical events, but gives its subject his own dramatic voice.” – Baltimore Sun
“[George] is to be congratulated in creating a masterpiece that meets and sometimes surpasses the most rigid scholarly and literary requirements. Every one of the book’s pages combines to make a literary banquet as sumptuous as any that Henry gave to his court.”
– Pittsburgh Press