I know the story of Anne Boleyn. Or do I? The Final Year of Anne Boleyn by Natalie Grueninger certainly gave me a lot of food for thought! After reading this informative and compelling book, I realised that a lot of what I held to be truth about this fascinating woman really isn’t. There is so much misinformation and conjecture about Anne that is just accepted, and this book really opened my eyes. Even today, centuries after the travesty that was Anne’s ‘trial’, controversy surrounds her, and opinion is divided. I feel that this book helped to clarify some of the rumour and scandal that has been used to blacken the name of Anne Boleyn, and of those around her who became embroiled in her life.. The depiction of Anne, particularly in the tower, moved me greatly. She was a brave woman who faced her fate with courage and dignity to the end, and this is shown beautifully in the book. Anne Boleyn is a person that will always be subject to debate, and this book portrays her sensitively, and in my opinion accurately. Highly recommended.

Lovely tribute to Anne Boleyn's spirit.Well researched, informative and written this puts to bed some of the many mysteries surrounding Anne that have plagued us for centuries.Highly recommend.

This is more a biography of Anne Boleyn with a new framework rather than a specific look at her last year. It is a great look and re-look at a lot of details in her life, but I would have also liked a tighter set up of the calendar and timeline and more focus just on 1535/1536.

I read this book around the same time that I was teaching the Renaissance Era, therefore teaching my students about Anne Boleyn. This book provided so much more insight that I was able to include in my lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This was such an excellent read. I'm a major history nerd but haven't studied British history or royal history as closely as others - but I think this is an incredibly poignant and questioning (in a good way) account of the final year of Anne Boleyn's life.

The approach that the author takes to the evaluation of historical sources is really inspiring and I'm so pleased to have read something that's so well done. It took me back to my days of learning about these historical figures and to images from various period films as feasts and dances, jousting matches and outings were described in great detail.

The author makes it clear when records have survived to portray what happened, questions other interpretations of the infamous story and honestly, it had me coming back to it rather than switching to my novel - so that's saying something!

The Final Year of Anne Boleyn
by Natalie Grueninger

When Thomas Cranmer heard of the allegations against Anne he wrote to King Henry VIII that he was in a terrible state of perplexity. His mind was 'clean amazed; for I never had better opinion in woman, than I had in her...' Although hated by many, and unfortunately possessing a bad reputation in some quarters even today, Anne had several good qualities, as this sympathetic look at her final days makes very clear. She was extremely religious, concerned that the money from the Dissolution of the monasteries should be spent on education and good causes, helped many poor students with their studies, and kind to the poor. Unfortunately, her downfall was caused in some part by her daring to criticise the King and Cromwell's misappropriation of monies, but changing political alliances also played a role. Cromwell actually admitted that he was responsible for her tragedy, but it was the King's ultimate decision.

This well-researched book by Natalie Grueninger provides a detailed, step-by-step account of Anne and Henry's changing relationship, and the fearsome political and religious situation of the time. It also allows us to have a better insight into Anne's fiery, passionate and courageous character.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I have read many Tudor fiction and nonfiction over the past 20+ years. This nonfiction is very well researched and offers an extremely detailed account of Anne Boleyn's last year. Parts of it provide insight into what ultimately happened to her. Other parts seem superfluous. However, depending on the reader's area of interest, what seems superfluous to one may be exactly what another wants to know. Examples: details of estates, foods, full text of letters. I skimmed most of these.
I far prefer the analysis of the Tudor writings to deciphering them myself. The author provided excellent analysis either from other sources or from her own knowledge. The author assembled a vast amount of research about Anne and made it readable and logical. I doubt this book would appeal to the casual reader, but provides a thorough perspective of the subject that will appeal to those with a deeper understanding and interest in the Tudor history.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was sad and heartbroken because this book gets all the details of her desperate last days. It follows very well to everything that I have already learned about Anne. The actual excerpts from historical documents was a great bonus. I read it twice to make sure I didn’t miss a thing. Very factual and informative.

Growing up I lived near Hever Castle. I loved visiting there in the summer i would imagine Anne and her siblings running through the gardens and all the people that would visit.
Anne Boleyn is my favourite wife of Henry 8th, she had character and a fire in her soul.
i also felt incredibly sorry for her too.
After reading this book i learnt so much more about her. very well researched and written.

Anne Boleyn is one of my favourite historical figures and I've read many books about her, but Natalie Grueninger's The Final Year of Anne Boleyn really stood out to me. It was an excellent study of this remarkable woman's final year and of the events which led to her dramatic fall.

The book was both extremely well researched and accessible to read. The writing was always focused on the subject, and the events were recounted in a very clear, objective way. The second half was especially gripping: even if I knew what was going to happen, I couldn't put the book down.

I also appreciated how respectful the author was towards Anne, and how she really tried to bring her back to life and to give her justice. She managed to paint a very human and sympathetic portrayal of this formidable woman.
Lastly, I also really liked the appendix which contains the list of Anne's charges, and how Grueninger disreputed them by pointing out that in most of these dates Anne was pregnant or in another place altogether.

Highly recommended.

he Final Year of Anne Boleyn is one of those books you can’t help but sit back and admire. The ground-breaking depth of research required for this book simply begs admiration from the reader and admiration is unquestionable. Yes, I know I’ve probably used admiration far too much in one sentence but it’s very hard not to, the level of depth in this book is staggering, as a researcher and archivist I really am in awe of the work Natalie Grueninger has put in to bringing us this historical offering.

It's been a while since I read anything as comprehensive as this, I read History when I was younger, and I have to confess it took me a while to get my head around the book and ask my brain to move away from reading non fiction thrillers and concentrate. This isn’t a quick read, it took me some time to get through it but that has no bearing on the quality of what we have before us. We all know how the story ends and it’s not pretty – Henry has become tired his Queen and Anne is executed but that’s not what this book is about, it follows Anne – meticulously I may add – through her final year alive and describes in great detail her trials and tribulations.

If there was one thing I couldn’t quite get my head around were the passages of Tudor language dotted throughout the book. You can get a gist of what someone in saying but that was probably the hardest thing for me to concentrate on and understand.

Although I was aware of how important a role Greenwich Palace played in Anne’s life – the birth of Elizabeth in September 1533, her presentation as Queen five months prior to that historic event and her arrest in 1536, I’d never been aware of the descriptive “taking her chamber” and “churched” as I discovered in chapter 4 when describing the period before and after giving birth! That’s what I love about educational books, you’ll always learn something and you’ll always find something to make you want to read more. Who knew Anne loved her sports, games and gambling? I didn’t! I also wasn’t aware that Henry also paid off her gambling debts! It really is incredible what you learn from this educational masterpiece.

This was an interesting read but it didn't really tell me anything new that I hadn't read before. It was an easy read but I wish something had been different from every other book I've read on the subject.

I would love to thank the author for granting me a wish and letting me read this tale as I am an avid fan of all Tudor history books, non and fiction, alike. And, this focus on Boleyn's last year included much information I had never read before or read together in one telling and I found it to be one of the greatest detailed accounts I read on one of Henry's specific wive's. Well researched and written I can't wait to see what comes from this author next, on the edge of my seat to find out what rich telling the author will bring.

Anyone who wants to learn more about Tudor history, especially Henry the 8th, is going to want to include this in their reads as Anne Boleyn is forever bound to the man like no other woman, in his history and life, was. In my opinion, Anne was the beginning of this King's madness, whether you want to say when it was when the King met Anne Boleyn, the years they spent together unmarried (which we more than) the years they spent married or when Henry decided to be done with his wife, his Queen, England's Queen, and beheaded her. The sad thing is, this was no singular occurrence for the King and thus, Anne was where the madness begins and this book is a must read for all Tudor historians, professional and non (as I fall into the latter).

Grueninger, in her research and choice of, to put into this book, brought out a side of Anne that many writers hide. We see Anne with a normalcy that is lacking in many other telling of the woman, a side that is simpler than a Queen that should be beheaded. (add more)

**Review is on my Goodreads page and will be in a possible print media review in the upcoming months, if chosen for my ongoing, monthly column (Tea Time With a Good Book). All material is printed for northeastern Ohio readers and also available on multiple online regional papers. I am available online for further information or if there is any direct desire I can fill for the author and publisher for having been given the chance to read their book before release. Review will be present and available in future online websites, blogs and other online materials in development for readers of the column to find. If there is any question, comment or problem please contact. Also, if there is a desire to include any information with the review, please contact. Before publishing in print media some information for the review may be changed, omitted or added to. I will present changes here, if and when they occur along with any news of future publishing.

There are SO many books about Anne Boleyn and the whole Tudor dynasty out there that actually finding a book like this one, which is just so well researched and even has facts and information that I have never read before is a real treat - never mind a rarity.

This was an intensely detailed biography, covering everything down to lists of gifts and expenses in those final twelve months. In its immense detail, it is a fairly heavy read, and took me a while to get through, just to digest it! But that’s what I wanted of it - a deep dive into Anne Boleyn as a person, and her life leading up to her death.

Alongside the detail and the litany of historical sources, it also digs a little into the reliability of some of those sources - oh, this author wrote a not entirely complimentary piece about Boleyn, but also, they were six when these events happened, perhaps their perspective isn’t entirely trustworthy, and perhaps there was a bias involved.

I really enjoyed it, and while I would recommend it, it isn’t one I’d recommend as a beginner read on Anne Boleyn - I’ve read about her before, but not in this degree of detail, and it felt like I perhaps should have done! But that is the exact degree of detail I want to find in history books.

I am conflicted with this book. On one hand The Final Year of Anne Boleyn provides an insightful outlook to the final year of Anne Boleyn, which is extremely interesting. On the other hand I felt the overall book did not give Anne Boleyn any agency in her story. There were quotes here and there from Anne Boleyn, but I felt the her story was mainly being told by the male figures around her. On that part it didn't do Anne Boleyn justice. Granted the documentation is probably male dominant, but I still feel the analysis could be performed in different perspective.

Book review: The Final Year of Anne Boleyn by Natalie Grueninger

The Tudors continue to be a spellbinding source for historians, scholars, writers and readers - myself included. I have long harbored a fascination for that eventful period in time, particularly the reign of Henry VIII, which naturally includes his six wives and their (mostly tragic) fates.

In “The Final Year of Anne Boleyn,” Natalie Grueninger takes a thorough look at the last twelve months of Anne Boleyn, arguably the most famous of Henry’s wives: the activities and actions of Anne herself and those around her, the intrigue at court, the insatiable thirst for power and the king’s favor, the political games - all of which would eventually lead to Anne Boleyn’s downfall.

With numerous books already written on Anne Boleyn, it’s not an easy feat to add yet another one to the ever-growing collection and still command the attention of potential readers. Yet, the author does a fine job of presenting meticulously researched facts (just take a long at the impressive appendix) in eloquent writing. By focusing solely on the last year of Anne Boleyn’s life, she has enough room for little stories, anecdotes and details, some of which I wasn’t aware of before - and I love learning new things about the Tudors.

We all know how Anne’s story ends. In fact, the author begins her book with the execution. But even though there is no element of surprise as far as the “plot” is concerned, it’s a highly immersive read that will be a welcome addition to the existing literature on the Tudors.

Thank you @netgalley and @penswordbooks for the ARC! The Final Year of Anne Boleyn will be published on November 30 and is available for pre-order.

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It's an interesting addition to the long list of Anne Boleyn books. Admittedly, the writing and narration was a little dry at some points, but overall I was entertained. It's very comprehensive and detailed, but I felt like it went off a lot more to talk about stuff that didn't seem to be all that relevant to Anne? I do like the points the author made about all the conspiracies leading to Anne's death. I think she argued and made her point well. I can definitely see that this was a meticulously researched book and I'm quite sure many lovers of the Tudor period will enjoy this.

STUNNING IN-DEPTH LOOK AT ANNE BOLEYN'S LAST YEAR

I have loved the Tudors for more than a decade. And I will never tire of learning more about them. If I ever had any notion that I had learnt everything there was to learn, Grueninger proved me sorely wrong.

💚 What I Loved 💚

Research: This was so meticulously researched, I was completely in awe. So many sources, so much attention. Grueninger is very adept at making the sources sing and collaborate, it became an absolute pleasure to follow her mind and her logic.

Sources: Not only does Grueninger draw from many and varied sources, she also includes her source criticism in her work. As an historian, that's something I truly love and admire. I like being able to follow an author's mind, her reasoning and her train of thought. That way I can determine for myself whether I agree with her conclusions or not. When an historian doesn't add source criticism, I only have their conclusions to go by. But I quite like being a participant in the chase, so to speak.

Thorough: This was an absolutely thorough look at Anne Boleyn's last year. No stone is left unturned and no detail is deemed too small. It was fascinating and almost made me feel like I was almost living it myself.

Humanising: Too often we have a tendency to look at history backwards, so to speak. We know how Anne's story ends. And it's not pretty. Often, the way we tell her story is coloured by the knowledge of her ending. We look for clues, for signs of the impending end. Grueninger is less focused on this and devotes more time to giving Anne her voice and humanity back. By going over every last detail of her final year, she comes alive before us. We're there with her. And we see her as a human being.

The Final Year of Anne Boleyn
by: Natalie Grueninger
Pen + Sword History
2022
***** ( 5 stars)

#netgalley # TheFinalYearOfAnneBoleyn

The controversies and mysteries, as much as the joy and happiness surrounding the last year in the life of Anne Boleyn may never be truly understood. The second wife of King Henry VIII, and mother of Elizabeth I, Anne was spirited and always had a concern for the poor and needy, especially pregnant women. The last year of her life she was labelled as a witch, a homewrecker, a matyr and.....gasp.....a feminist, amongst other names. She was the first woman ever executed, but wont be the last woman a man of power has devised to do away with to hide his own lack of morals and selfish rage.
This is a fantastic and engaging reveal of the last year of Anne Boleyn's life. The torment and torture she was put through is chilling, and harrowing, however this book also reveals the mindset of the time, and general lack of empathy in Tudor England. The extensive and deep research uncovers the positives Anne was able to accomplish in the short span of her life, as much as the controversies surrounding her and her death.
I completely enjoyed this and learned so much I did not know about Anne's lfe, and her unwarranted execution. I could not put this down, the writing was engaging and easy to get into. I cannot recommend this enough.
A huge thanks to Netgalley, Pen + Sword Books for sending this ARC e-book for review.