The theme of this long and powerful novel is murder - and not only the murder of one of the most fascinating personalities in English history, Anne Boleyn, but of many more of the vital and famous people who lived in the dangerous days when a carelessly spoken word, or his nearness to the throne, was sufficient to send a man to the block.

Against a violent background, the story of ill-fated Anne Boleyn is told with remarkable insight and is interwoven with that of the other murdered Queen, Catherine Howard. Anne is seen as the humble daughter of a ruthless father, cheated of her lover, so that out of her proud nature grows that ambition which destroyed her, leading her to exchange the powerful role of King's mistress for the dangerous one of King's wife. While she moves forward to tragedy, the little Catherine Howard is seen growing up, amid circumstances which may shock and horrify but which cannot fail to arouse deep interest and pity.

And through the book strides the magnificent, dominating figure of Henry VIII - sanctimonious, hypocritical, shrewd, cunning and ruthless, sometimes sentimental but always amorous.The theme of this long and powerful novel is murder - and not only the murder of one of the most fascinating personalities in English history, Anne Boleyn, but of many more of the vital and famous people who lived in the dangerous days when a carelessly spoken word, or his nearness to the throne, was sufficient to send a man to the block.

Against a violent background, the story of ill-fated Anne Boleyn is told with remarkable insight and is interwoven with that of the other murdered Queen, Catherine Howard. Anne is seen as the humble daughter of a ruthless father, cheated of her lover, so that out of her proud nature grows that ambition which destroyed her, leading her to exchange the powerful role of King's mistress for the dangerous one of King's wife. While she moves forward to tragedy, the little Catherine Howard is seen growing up, amid circumstances which may shock and horrify but which cannot fail to arouse deep interest and pity. And through the book strides the magnificent, dominating figure of Henry VIII - sanctimonious, hypocritical, shrewd, cunning and ruthless, sometimes sentimental but always amorous.