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Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All

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Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All

By: M. T. Anderson, Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Jennifer Donnelly, Linda Sue Park, Deborah Hopkinson
Narrated by: Justine Eyre, Katharine Lee McEwan, Jayne Entwistle, Heather Wilds, Fiona Hardingham, Elizabeth Knowelden, Elliot Hill
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Perfect for anyone fascinated by the Royal Wedding, Netflix's The Crown, or Wolf Hall, this is a pitch-perfect reimagining of the romance and tragedy of Henry VIII and his six wives, told from multiple points of view by some of your favorite authors.

If you were one of King Henry VIII's six wives, who would you be? Would you be Anne Boleyn, who literally lost her head? Would you be the subject of rumor and scandal like Catherine Howard? Or would you get away and survive like Anna of Cleves?

Meet them and Henry's other queens--each bound for divorce or death--in this epic and thrilling novel that reads like fantasy but really happened. Watch spellbound as each of these women attempts to survive their unpredictable king as he grows more and more obsessed with producing a male heir. And discover how the power-hungry court fanned the flames of Henry's passions . . . and his most horrible impulses.

Whether you're a huge fan of all things Tudor or new to this jaw-dropping saga, you won't be able to get the unique voices of Henry and his wives--all brought to life by seven award-winning and bestselling authors--out of your head.

This is an intimate look at the royals during one of the most treacherous times in history. Who will you root for and who will you love to hate?

ONE OF THE NYPL TOP TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

"Ambitious and exciting." --Bustle

"A clever, feminist reimagining of one of English history's most fascinating moments." --Refinery29

"These stories of love, lust, power and intrigue never fail to fascinate." --Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

Who's Who:

M. T. Anderson - Henry VIII
Candace Fleming - Katharine of Aragon, wife #1
Stephanie Hemphill - Anne Boleyn, wife #2
Lisa Ann Sandell - Jane Seymour, wife #3
Jennifer Donnelly - Anna of Cleves, wife #4
Linda Sue Park - Catherine Howard, wife #5
Deborah Hopkinson - Kateryn Parr, wife #6 Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Royalty Marriage Middle Ages Biography Tudor Survival England
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Critic reviews

"Romance and intrigue dominate these accounts, as do the frustrations of being female in a time when 'no woman--not even a Queen--can... show her own power'..."—Shelf Awareness, starred review
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It was a good listen and all of the readers did a fabulous job of bringing the six queens to life. I just wish Elliott could have sounded more robust, and not like a boy reading his school essay out loud to his class.

A different Take

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Hearing, so speak of the wives and Henry's opinions on their version of their marriages was entertaining. A light listen on the bus to and from work or relaxing in the bath. Was worth listening to.

Interesting.

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As a lover of history, I thought I knew most things about this famous group.
Delightedly this book proved me wrong.There has been details I missed and links not made until strung together side by side.

Listened to the whole thing in a day.
Loved the different take on viewpoints of each wife's life with an input of Henry's own at the end.

Worth a listen and your credit.

Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All

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A well-researched piece and always interesting to listen to new angles on the psychological truth of these ill-fated women. However they all sound somewhat older and more worldly than perhaps they were. Anne of Cleves sounds Indian not German, while Ann Boleyn sounds too English - she spoke with a French accent. Young Jane Seymour sounds like a woman in her 50s and the mixed conventions of diary entry-style as well as describing their own deaths in the first person doesn’t work for me. Much of this great writing doesn’t come off the page performance-wise and there are some glaring mispronunciations which are grating. The American presenter and narrator of the introduction crucially can’t pronounce ‘eighth’ correctly in Henry VIII’s title and is an odd choice of voice for this piece, lacking gravitas. Great performance from the actor playing Catherine of Aragon. I really enjoyed the stories nonetheless which are a nice addition to the current ‘Herstory’ zeitgeist

Some good performances

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It’s quite a ‘fun’ listen but for me is let down by glaring historical inaccuracies eg Cromwell was never Lord Chancellor … these things are annoying and for me take away from some of the scenes as portrayed.

Historically inaccurate

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