The Stolen Crown

 

The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit & the Death of the Tudor Dynasty- Tracy Borman

Hodder & Stoughton

Release Date: November 4, 2025

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In March 1603, Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, lies dying at Richmond Palace. The queen's ministers cluster round her bedside, urging her to name her successor - something she has stubbornly resisted throughout her reign. Almost with her last breath she whispers that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. She dies shortly afterwards and the throne of England passes peacefully from Tudor to Stuart.

Or so we've been led to believe . . .

But, as enthralling new research shows, this is not what happened. In the years that followed, history was literally re-written on the orders of James VI to hide the Elizabeth went to her grave without formally naming an heir. The notion of an approved succession from Tudors to Stuarts is little more than an elaborately constructed fiction.
And so James's rule in England began with a lie - a lie that went on to have devastating consequences. The Stuart regime rapidly descended into turbulence and uncertainty, conspiracy and persecution, witchcraft and gunpowder - culminating in the destruction of the monarchy in the English Civil War.

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Tracy Borman (Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him) is one of my favorite historians, so I was very excited to get her new take on Elizabeth I's succession. We've all been taught that she named James VI of Scotland her heir as she lay dying and the crown peacefully transferred over to him. But Borman's new book reports on work done by the British Library, showing that this is a story James ensured was passed around well into his reign- in order to keep him on the throne.

The Stolen Crown follows Elizabeth I's reign with the focus solely on how it reflected on who she would name her heir. Over the decades Elizabeth was pressed to marry and have children of her own, and/or to name successors to the crown. The chaos of the Wars of the Roses were still fresh enough in people minds that they didn't want to go through that again, and there were multiple candidates with potential claims of varying strength (despite Henry VIII doing his best to kill them all off while he was in power). Who rose or fell in Elizabeth's favor, moving nearer or farther to the throne, might surprise some readers. 

I was surprised by how active in the succession Eilzabeth's council became in the last few years of her reign, though in retrospect it does make sense. The fact that they managed to keep their dealings a secret from Elizabeth is perhaps the greater surprise. Did they, or did she let them think so? I learned more here about James than I'd ever known before- and while all of it fascinating, none of it to his advantage! It was really interesting to learn that in trying to firm up his claim on the throne once he had it, James is perhaps one of the people largely responsible for the image of "Good Queen Bess" that we still have today.

Brilliantly researched, engagingly written, The Stolen Crown is a must read for history lovers!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

 

The Story of Tudor Art

 The Story of Tudor Art: A History of Tudor England Through Its Art And Objects- Christina J. Faraday

Apollo

Release Date: September 25, 2025

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The volatile years of England's Tudor dynasty (1485–1603) and the five monarchs who ruled England during this period continue to fascinate and intrigue. Thanks to the paintings of artists like Hans Holbein, we have very definitive ideas about the appearance and personalities of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and her successor Elizabeth I. It is through their eyes of artists that we still see the dynasty which ruled England for just over a century. Yet, iconic though they are, when it comes to Tudor art, portraits – and monarchs – are far from the whole story.

Throughout the sixteenth century, images and objects were employed for political, religious, social and scientific ends, by a greater range of people than ever before. The Church and the royal court, archbishops, monarchs, and courtiers, were some of the most important patrons, commissioning artists in painting, tapestry, print and other materials, to convey particular messages and promote them as individuals and office-holders. But in this period too, the 'middling sort', professional men and women, increased in power, wealth and influence. They also wanted to promote themselves, and used not only art, but also a plethora of other objects to do so.

In this novel and unique exploration of England's Tudor dynasty, Christina Faraday uses the art of the era – both images and objects - as a means of investigating every facet of the period. As well as deconstructing sometimes familiar portraits of Tudor kings, queens and noblemen, Faraday will bring a forensic eye to bear on a broad and heterogeneous array of artefacts – charters, clocks, cushions, coins, devotional artworks, furniture, jewels, manuscripts, miniatures, sculptures, scrolls and tapestries – thereby providing the reader with a vivid and detailed feel for the political, social, economic and cultural texture of sixteenth-century England.

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When we think about Tudor art we automatically think portraits. It's only recently that I've started to read about Elizabethan architecture and tapestries and I definitely wanted to read more. Christina Faraday's book took these topics- and so much more!- and put them in fantastic context.

Well-researched and well-written, this book touched on everything from tapestries and paintings to the beginnings of importing Chinese ceramics vs English pottery. How did art change from Henry VII to the end of Elizabeth I's reign? Why? The global movements and context for art, artists, patrons, and collectors created changes in types of art, symbolism, and so much more. The scope of the book means that Faraday isn't able to get into deep dives on every single type of art for every decade of the Tudor dynasty but her broad strokes and quick dives to give us illustrative examples are incredibly helpful to understanding the progression of art over time. Set up by monarch it is easy to see the progression of different types of art or symbols over time, why certain things were done or stopped being done. 

If you're interested in Tudor history, art history, or both, Faraday's The Story of Tudor Art is an absolute must read!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Shakespeare's Sisters

 

Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance- Ramie Targoff

Knopf

Release Date: March 12, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long before there was any possibility of “a room of one’s own.”

In an innovative and engaging narrative of everyday life in Shakespeare’s England, Ramie Targoff carries us from the sumptuous coronation of Queen Elizabeth in the mid-sixteenth century into the private lives of four women writers working at a time when women were legally the property of men. Some readers may have heard of Mary Sidney, accomplished poet and sister of the famous Sir Philip Sidney, but few will have heard of Aemilia Lanyer, the first woman in the seventeenth century to publish a book of original poetry, which offered a feminist take on the crucifixion, or Elizabeth Cary, who published the first original play by a woman, about the plight of the Jewish princess Mariam. Then there was Anne Clifford, a lifelong diarist who fought for decades against a patriarchy that tried to rob her of her land in one of England’s most infamous inheritance battles. These women had husbands and children to care for and little support for their art, yet against all odds they defined themselves as writers, finding rooms of their own where doors had been shut for centuries. Targoff flings those doors open, revealing the treasures left by these extraordinary women; in the process, she helps us see the Renaissance in a fresh light, creating a richer understanding of history and offering a much-needed female perspective on life in Shakespeare’s day.

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If you're looking for an introduction to the world of Renaissance England through women's eyes and how they worked to make their voices heard through writing- look no further than Shakespeare's Sisters by Ramie Targoff. She takes the long-held belief that Tudor women didn't read, didn't write, and certainly weren't anything but meek and mild wives and daughters and throws it out the window. 

Queen Elizabeth might not have been trying to break the glass ceiling for women, but that doesn't mean other women weren't looking for ways to express themselves. Mary Sidney is someone readers might have heard of- at least because her brother was famous. She took that and ran with it, adding translations and poems of her own to published works of his (some that she only recently got credit for!). Aemilia Lanyer was the first woman to publish a book of original poetry in the 17th century, and she did it while worrying about money for her family because she wasn't nobly born! She made it more shocking by writing a feminist take on the crucifixion- including a poem from the point of view of the wife of Pontius Pilate arguing that if he condemned Christ he is basically erasing Eve's original sin and women are no longer the 'lesser sex'. Elizabeth Carey was the first woman to publish an original play, a feminist take on the Jewish princess Mariam. Anne Clifford is probably the first woman diarist who also wrote down her life and her family's history, all while fighting 40 years of legal battles for her inheritance.

Each of these women were ahead of their time in so many ways, determined to live life as they wanted to. This incredibly well-written and well-researched book gives them back their voices and introduces us to women we may not have known before, but will now definitely want to know more about. The book is designed to tell us more about their lives than to be literary analyses, but at the end we get a great chapter on why their writing is so rarely taught, where we can find their books, and other Renaissance women we might want to read. 

I absolutely recommend Shakespeare's Sisters to anyone interested in Tudor England and English literature, or the increasing discoveries of women's lives throughout history, some of which are only recently being brought back into the light.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Hunting the Falcon

 Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage that Shook Europe- John Guy & Julia Fox

Bloomsbury

Released: September 14, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is one of the most remarkable in a long courtship followed by a shotgun wedding and then a coronation, ending just short of three years later when a husband's passion turned to such hatred that he simply wanted his wife gone. In Hunting the Falcon, John Guy and Julia Fox examine the most recent archival discoveries and peel back layers of historical myth to present Anne and Henry in startlingly new ways. They show how Anne and Henry's relationship was tied almost completely to the major events of international politics at one of the great turning points of European history, and dispel any assumptions that a sixteenth-century woman, even a queen, could exert little influence on the politics and beliefs of a patriarchal society. Anne was in fact a shrewd and ruthless politician in her own right, a woman who steered Henry and his policies - and whom Henry seriously contemplated making joint sovereign.

Hunting the Falcon sets the facts and some completely new finds into a wide frame, unearthing the truth about these two extraordinary lives and their tumultuous times. It pays particular attention to the seven 'missing' years that Anne spent in France, and explores how she organised her side of the royal court in novel ways that ultimately sowed the seeds of her own downfall. In this feat of historical research and analysis, Guy and Fox offer a sumptuous retelling of one of the most consequential marriages in history and an exhilarating portrait of love, lust, politics and power.

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I've read a number of biographies on Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn recently, and Hunting the Falcon has to be right up at the top. I love how historians John Guy and Julia Fox take the wide view of the relationship. It wasn't ever just about love, or even lust, it was always about power and politics- both on the small family scale and on the European scale.

Guy and Fox do an excellent job of describing Anne's life in Europe before coming to Katherine of Aragon's court and Henry's attention, and how what she learned there greatly influenced what she herself would do when she was queen. She modeled her court on Queen Claude, who she served in France, allowing both women and men into her court. This probably allowed her access to more information than she might otherwise have gotten, certainly made her feel more accessible to those who wanted to ask for favors and knew the Queen was the one to go to, and in the end, helped Cromwell exploit chinks in Anne's armor that led to her execution. We see what Anne did as queen for those around her, the changes she made and those she tried, but failed, to make.  

But more than focusing on the power Anne wielded in England, Guy and Fox help the reader understand the ever-shifting power plays going on between England and France, the pope and Charles (Katherine of Aragon's nephew, Holy Roman Emperor, Hapsburg emperor, etc.). Who sided with who, when, where, and why changed regularly and Guy and Fox do the best job of explaining the players and their motivations (at any given time) that I've read yet. I think that was what impressed me the most in Hunting the Falcon. I always knew that Anne was pro-French, but here we get deeply into why sometimes it was to Henry's advantage to side with Francis and France, other times with Charles, who might support him against the pope, and who's wars in Europe would benefit him the most.

Whether you think you know all there is to know about Henry and Anne, or are looking for a good book to start your exploration of this explosive relationship, Hunting the Falcon is definitely a book I recommend!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Spotlights for November 2022

 Here are a few of the new releases from November of 2022 that I didn't write a blog post on, but a spotlight through Goodreads reviews:

Better Than Fiction- Alexa Martin

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Release Date: November 8

Romance-Comedy

An adorable romcom about a bookstore owner who doesn't like to read and a romance author. Opposites attract in the best ways possible as Drew and Jasper explore a surprise relationship, supported by her friends and a book club of meddling readers determined to have a happy ending.

The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd-Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos

Rating:📚📚📚

Release Date: November 8

Biography

Discovering the true story of the untold family life behind privateer/pirate Captain Kidd, this is the life of Sarah Kidd. A woman who sailed to New York when it was a new colony of England, married four times for very different reasons over the course of her life, saw the best of times and the worst of times, and was probably the last living person to know the hiding place of Kidd's treasure.

Raven Unveiled- Grace Draven

Rating: 📚📚📚

Release Date: November 8

Fantasy

Book Three in the Fallen Empire fantasy series follows shade speaker Siora and former cat's paw Gharek as they go from enemies to uneasy allies in a quest to save Gharek's daughter and the ghosts Siora sees. Generals are fighting for the newly empty thrown and an evil supernatural entity is stalking the land, eating both the dead and possibly the living- and Siora may be the only one who can save them.

Some Dukes Have All The Luck- Christina Britton

Rating:📚📚📚

Release Date: November 8

Historical Romance

Ash Hawkins, Duke of Buckley, needs a woman interested in a marriage of convenience to take over the raising of his three wards. Bronwyn Pickering needs a husband, preferably titled, to free her from her overbearing and domineering parents. She'll be free to continue her etymological studies on the Isle of Synne and he'll be free to stay in London running his gambling hell. As long as inconvenient emotions don't enter into the equation.

The Queen: Her Life- Andrew Morton

Rating: 📚📚

Release Date: November 15

Biography

A new biography on Queen Elizabeth II by Andrew Morton, best know for his biographies of Princess Diana. 

The Final Year of Anne Boleyn- Natalie Gruenineger

Rating:📚📚📚📚📚

Release Date: November 30

Biography

An in-depth look at the final year of Anne Boleyn's life, Natalie Gruenineger explores how relationships between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII changed as politics, Thomas Cromwell, and Jane Seymour altered the landscape and offers a compelling argument for why she believes Henry VIII knew Anne was innocent of the crimes she was charged with, but had to die anyway.