Notorious cover art

Notorious

Anne Boleyn and the Great Tudor Hoax

Pre-order: Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Notorious

By: Hayley Nolan
Pre-order: Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Pre-order Now for £13.99

Pre-order Now for £13.99

About this listen

'An imaginatively compelling investigation of a remarkable Tudor life, shedding sympathetic light on a world where prophecy and divine revelation unleashed dangerous political power' Malcolm Gaskill, author of The Ruin of All Witches

'The enthralling tale of Elizabeth Barton, the most dangerous woman in Henry VIII's England' Amanda Matta

How did a young housemaid manage to catapult herself into the centre of Henry VIII's divorce, going head-to-head with Anne Boleyn? And why was the sordid truth behind her story erased? Historian Hayley Nolan uncovers the secrets of the most astounding tale in Tudor history.

She destroyed Anne Boleyn,
conned Henry VIII,
and changed the course of history forever.

Meet the fearless young woman who is the missing piece in one of history's most infamous tales.

Elizabeth Barton's remarkable rise from poverty to celebrity stunned the Tudor court. As the most notorious influencer of her day, she was adored by the public and had the most formidable Tudor power players under her spell - until she was silenced.

But was the girl a deluded fantasist, a cold-hearted con artist, or was she the victim of her corrupt celebrity managers?

Anne Boleyn certainly thought so, which is why she tried to save the girl who had set out to ruin her.

Hayley Nolan breathes life into a story that has been relegated to the footnotes of history: the dramatic rise and fall of Elizabeth Barton. Her thrilling story is one of prophecy, fame, manipulation and deceit – and shows what's at stake when everything comes crashing down within the confines of the ruthless court of Henry VIII.

©2026 Hayley Nolan (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Europe Great Britain Politics & Activism Royalty

Critic reviews

In Notorious, Nolan brings her trademark ability to reframe the tangled, often tragic lives of Tudor women to a lesser-known but pivotal subject. Her account of Elizabeth Barton—prophet, prisoner, and a largely uncredited voice of the English Reformation—shines new light on the inner world of a woman history has long side-lined. Nolan doesn't shy away from presenting competing motives and contradictory theories; as she rightly insists, when it comes to Henry VIII's court, the ambiguity is the history. Notorious is a timely reminder that the machinery for discrediting women has a very long paper trail, and another essential piece in the long, unfinished puzzle of Henry and Anne Boleyn (Amanda Matta, US television and social media commentator)
An imaginatively compelling investigation of a remarkable Tudor life, shedding sympathetic light on a world where prophecy and divine revelation unleashed dangerous political power (Malcolm Gaskill, Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia and author of The Ruin of All Witches)
No reviews yet