Mademoiselle Boleyn by Robin Maxwell
At the young age of nine, Anne and her older sister, Mary, are sent to the French court. Court life is filled with various intrigues, and Anne quickly learns to maneuver her way around. The sexually promiscuous atmosphere of the French court soon overtakes Mary, but Anne is determined not to have the same fate. Torn between her friendships in the French court of Francois I and her father’s insistence that she spies on the French, Anne must learn to walk a careful path, or all will be lost.
Her fascinating prose kept me riveted to the pages of this book long past my bedtime. The descriptive imagery draws the reader into the heart of this tale, but it is Anne herself who makes it so powerful. Told through the eyes of a child, the debauchery of the French court is almost obscene. And yet, Anne continually sees the good in others despite their excesses. She is not naïve, however. Rather, Anne is a powerful female and her ever-growing confidence in herself is empowering and poignant, particularly against a backdrop in which women are so powerless. The comparisons between her fate and Mary’s are startlingly poignant. Anne is not the only powerful female, however, as Marguerite is herself a powerful woman. Even Claude shows great strength of character as she makes the most of a role she has been forced to take by the strictures of the time in which she lives.
Robin Maxwell infuses a passion and beauty into Mademoiselle Boleyn that makes this an unforgettable tale of both heroism and the corruption of power.
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