My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes

[amyb]

My Lady of Cleves covers the life of Anne of Cleves from right before her marriage to Henry VIII until his death in 1547. The story opens with an agitated King Henry VIII, talking with his ministers about his need for a new wife after the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour in childbed. Among the candidates are the Duchess of Milan and the Cleves Princesses. The Duchess of Milan has already replied with “Only if I had two heads”! Smart girl!

Hans Holbein is sent to Cleves to paint both Anne and her sister, Amelia. Once there he becomes quite smitten with Anne and they begin a friendship. He paints a flattering picture of her because that is the way he sees her. Unfortunately, Henry does not see the same way and is almost instantly put off by Anne’s looks and hard mannerisms. Henry likes the petite type (go figure!).

We follow Anne through her short marriage to Henry, her annulment, “retirement” to Richmond Palace, Henry’s next marriage to Katherine Howard and her eventual downfall. Anne even plays a part in the infamous scene where Katherine is desperate to talk to Henry and goes screaming for him through the halls of the Palace.

Anne seems to resign herself to her fate; after all she still has her head! She genuinely enjoys the life of a Princess of England; she can come and go as she pleases and has no husband or man to answer to. In seeing the freedom that Anne as a “woman” had, that had to have been a big impact on Elizabeth I, who always said she would never have a master.

My Lady of Cleves was an interesting look into a woman that survived marriage to Henry VIII. Anne is very likeable and I think she would have made a wonderful Queen, had she been given the chance. I wish the story was longer and covered the time during Mary’s rule as Queen - I would have liked to have heard Anne’s thoughts on “Bloody Mary”.

Margaret Campbell Barnes is also the author of Brief, Gaudy Hour, a novel on Anne Boleyn.

Note: Anne of Cleves died at Hever Castle on July 16, 1557. She lived 10 years past Henry. Her tomb is in a “hard to find place” in Westminster Abbey.

Overall: 4/5

Song: "Sweet Dreams" by Tori Amos

[MLE]

Great review, amyb. I enjoyed this book too, the first I have read by MCB, but it will not be the last! I never would have found it except for this site.

[amyb]

Thank you for the compliment! I am still new to this reviewing thing, so I appreciate the encouragement!

[princess garnet]

I'm reading this book at the moment. I like how Hans Holbein gets plenty of stage time. Not to give anything away, he only appears in the 1st chapter of The Boleyn Inheritance.
Observation so far: pace not as quick as TBI but you can get a fuller picture of Anne's view at her life in England

[Misfit]

Thank you for the compliment! I am still new to this reviewing thing, so I appreciate the encouragement!

Good review, but I agree about when you're first starting out writing these things. It's not as easy as it seems!

I read this a couple of years ago and if I recall pretty close together with PG's The Boleyn Inheritance. It was fun comparing the two. She's got one about Richard II I read recently that was quite good as well. I'll look up the title if anyone's interested.

[amyb]

It sure is tough and the poeple here don't help my self-esteem because all of you ROCK at reviews, especially you Misfit! But I learn a lot from all of you, so I am grateful for the wonderful resources I have here.

BTW - I would be interested in reading something on Richard II. Thanks!

[Tanzanite]

Her book on Richard II is Within the Hollow Crown and I thought it was pretty good.

[Misfit]

That's it and it was very good. Don't freak out about the price on Amazon I found a copy cheap at Abe Books. Check with Jane -- we swapped books after I read it and when she got my copy she realized she already had one. :p:p If she's got two she might be willing to swap.

[Telynor]

This is one of my favourite Tudor novels, and one of the few that I've reread over time. Do keep writing reviews, practice really does help, and you're off to a great start.

[Misfit]

Telynor's right, practice practice but even then some are harder than others. I just cringe when I look at my very oldest two sentece loved this book reviews. Have to go back and reread the books so I can redo the review. :)

[amyb]

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

[diamondlil]

Having read Brief Gaudy Hour earlier this year, I was really pleased when I was offered an ARC copy of My Lady of Cleves. There is so much written about the various Tudors, but it was an added bonus that this book was about one of the lesser written about Tudor wives - Anne of Cleves.

I have to say that from the moment I read the inscription, I was hooked in this book. It was originally published in 1946 and the dedication reads:

To The courage and endurance of all women who lost the men they loved in the fight for freedom.


Now whilst this dedication isn't really about the book itself, it resonated with me as it reminded me that when this book was written the world was a different place. WWII had just ended, and for many around the world were dealing with the loss of loved ones (including the author herself). In the UK, there was heavy rationing, and I could almost imagine being a reader at that time who managed to forget about the hardships of real life and get lost, for a few hours at least, in Tudor times, at the court of Henry VIII, as he searched for a new wife.

The book opens with Henry VII trying to decide which of the princesses of Europe would be the lucky girl to marry him. And what a catch! By this time in his life he was, shall we say, larger than he had been, he had health issues, and he was shopping for his fourth wife, albeit for political purposes mainly. Yes, he was a king, but it is fair to say that there was a known risk in marrying Henry.

When he sends his messengers to the duchy of Cleves, accompanying them is court painter Hans Holbein. His role is to paint miniatures of the two eligible princesses, and send them back to England so that Henry can choose which of them is the more attractive. Henry chooses Anne based on the portrait painted by Holbein, a man who plays a big role in Anne's life for a number of reasons.

For Anne, this journey to her new life as Queen of England is very strange. She is unaccustomed to the ways of the brash English, and she is aware that her family is very much depending on her to do her duty. On the journey, she gets to see the sea for the first time, and is terrified that she has to cross in a storm. In some ways it is an easier storm to face than that she faces at the court, where there is very little in the way of introduction to the ways of the Court, and plenty of criticisms of the way that she dresses, she acts, her lack of dancing skills etc.

The initial meeting between the betrothed couple is a disaster. Anne is naive to the ways of the Court, the petty jealousies, the jockeying for positions, and soon it becomes clear that Henry is displeased with his choice of bride.

For Anne, where being divorced could very well be a source of shame and unhappiness, she must learn a way to make her own life, her own happiness, and she shows her true strengths. We also get an insider's view at court as Anne witnesses the heady and tumultuous times as Katherine Howard rose to be Henry's wife, albeit for a very short time, and gradually coming to her own kind of special relationship with the ailing king.

Reading through the pages of this book, Anne is bought to life, and is portrayed as a capable woman, who loves strongly, who takes a bad situation and turns it in such a way as to emerge from the disaster that was her marriage to Henry with both her head and body intact, and a happy and fulfilled life.

The writing by this author stands the test of time, and did not feel aged in any way. There were nuances of humour and depth throughout the text. I liked the Hans Holbein storyline very much. It gave some reasons as to why the main players in the drama acted in some of the ways that they did, and gives this book a point of difference from some other books that, however briefly, told some of Anne of Cleves life story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more from this author.

Special thanks to Sourcebooks for the ARC.

[amyb]

Great review - I too got my ARC's from them, although I haven't read A Brief, Gaudy Hour yet. I'm glad you liked it as much as I did!

[Telynor]

I first read this back about thirty years ago, and loved it. It's long remained a favourite of mine, and I am very happy to see it come back into print. As far as I am concerned, it's one of the best of the Tudor period novels out there, and it's great to see someone other than Anne Boleyn or Katherine of Aragon getting the spotlight.

[EC2]

Thanks for the review Diamondlil.
Like Telynor, I must have read this 30 years (and more!) ago, and even then it was an older book. But yes, definitely an author who has stood the test of time. Very thought-inducing what you say about the world being a very different place then.