Schooled in sexuality, politics, and religion by two of France’s wisest and most progressive royal women, Anne turns the tables on the famous Henry VIII, leading him in a six-year dance of destiny.
Set in the mid-16th century, Anne Boleyn spent her childhood at the court of Duchess Margaret of Burgundy (Margaret of York), and in her adolescence and middle teenage years she was part of the lascivious inner circle of King Francois I’s French court at Amboise Chateau. It is here that Anne receives her political and sexual education, forced by her grasping father to spy for him, and watching as her beautiful sister, Mary Boleyn, is prostituted to become mistress to King Francois, later passed around to all his courtiers as a toy.
While the early years of Anne’s life had been spent in the French court, at the age of 17 she is recalled home to England at the direction of King Henry VIII — a married man — who has already decided the beautiful teenager will become his mistress. But Anne has other ideas. Schooled in sexuality, politics, and religion by two of France’s wisest and most progressive royal women, Anne turns the tables on Henry, leading him in a six-year dance of destiny, in which she becomes the most powerful person (male or female) at the Tudor court, managing against all odds to keep her virginity, be crowned Queen of England, becomes mother of the greatest Queen of England, Elizabeth I and through the introduction of seminal Lutheran texts, shows Henry the way towards the Protestant Reformation. But in doing so she collects the most virulent of enemies, all of whom seethe with jealousy and begin to plot her downfall. Eventually, Anne is tried and executed for treason, adultery, and witchcraft — the “goggle-eyed whore” reviled by everyone, not only at court, but in all of England.
Robin Maxwell's international best-selling, award-winning, debut novel The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn — now in its 25th printing (Simon and Schuster, 1998) and translated into 16 languages — is the only historical novel ever written to feature the relationship between Anne and her only child with Henry VIII, Elizabeth.
Robin Maxwell is a historian, screenwriter, podcaster, internationally acclaimed and Los Angeles Times bestselling author of nine novels. Her debut - The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn - is now in its 25th printing. Maxwell’s historical fiction titles include The Queen’s Bastard, Signora Da Vinci, and Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan. "All the Queens’ Men," based on Robin’s Elizabethan Quartet, is currently in development for a limited cable series. She’s been called ‘one of the Queens of Historical Fiction.’ With the publication of her new Atlantos series, she has evolved into ‘one of the Queens of Pre-historical Fiction." The fourth book in her “Elizabethan Quartet” - The Wild Irish: A Novel of Elizabeth I and the Pirate O’Malley - features, in Maxwell's opinion, the greatest female hero of all time - Grace O’Malley. Maxwell has partnered with Australian producer Monica O’Brien, Ambience Entertainment, and Kew Media for a TV series based on The Wild Irish, soon heading into production. Robin currently lives with her husband, yogi Max Thomas, at their private retreat and wildlife sanctuary High Desert Eden, California.
| Visit Robin at her website, www.robinmaxwell.com or on Facebook @AuthorRobinMaxwell
