Read this massive tome some years ago and unfortunately recall very little about it though I know it would have been a well researched book. ( )

I found this too much like reading a textbook, so gave up after 90 pages... Although Fraser clearly has researched her subject thoroughly, she failed to make at least Catherine of Aragon interesting.

Let's just put all the cards on the table, shall we? I don't read history books.

So my four stars has NO CONTEXT whatsoever. Bear that in mind if you decide to pick it up.

Fraser basically devotes her book to understanding the various wives, why Henry VIII chose them, what caused their demise, and the political backdrop that influenced everything the king did. In the process, she certainly also portrays King Henry.

To me, this book really does read like history; if Fraser doesn't know something, she doesn't make any assumptions without making it clear that she is doing so. She does her best to weave an interesting tale - - but you can't help but think how much MORE interesting this story would be if we were experiencing it in modern times with a modern press.

Seriously, Henry VIII would be featured on the front of People magazine for 10 plus years if this story were taking place in the modern day.

If you aren't familiar with his story - - I highly suggest renting HBO's The Tudors - - which I now know (thanks to Fraser's book) has a lot of historical accuracy to it while being totally engrossing.

All in all, if you are interested in Tudor history, this book gives a great historical frame of reference for the period.

P.S. There is a book of the same title written by Alison Weir. One of these two books was highly recommended by PBT members - - and unfortunately, I'm not sure which one - - but something tells me it might have been Weir's and not Fraser's. So perhaps, if you do want to read a book on this topic, you may want to do a shout out to see which one actually is the one that everyone raved about. ( )

I think Fraser treats these women much better than Weir did, and I’m kind of fascinated that the two books were only published a year apart (this one second); I feel as though a book could be written about the race between Weir and Fraser writing about the six wives at the end of the 1980s (they had to have been crossing paths throughout their research).

Anyway I love having this one too for my reference as Fraser doesn’t gloss over the politics but also doesn’t drag the reader down by all of it either. The epilogue was amazing and really did a good job of wrapping up all the “what might have beens”; now I kind of do want to pilgrimage to all the different resting places. ( )

Excellent book on the wives of Henry VIII - it took me over a year to read as it is what I call "hard reading". What I mean by that is that it alot of it is written in the old English so I had to keep going to the reference to understand. Pictures are lovely and I will cherish this book always. ( )