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The Secret Diary of Ann Boleyn |
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 The Secret Diary of Ann Boleyn:A Novel by Robin Maxwell Scribner 288 pages, 1998 ISBN 0684849690 Reviewed by John A. Broussard, PhD What could be more poignant than a grown woman's discovery of her mother's diary? Make that the diary of a mother, barely remembered, who had died when the child was still an infant. What if the woman is a queen, the daughter of a queen whose husband had her executed? This powerful story depicts the interwoven lives of Elizabeth, who loves too much, and of her mother, Ann Boleyn, who loves too little. Robin Maxwell has a definite feel for the language of the Elizabethan period. And she displays a deft touch in her portrayal of Elizabeth's life - as England's Queen reads, page by page, the entries in her mother's diary. This extraordinary book brings to life the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, with all their intrigue, cross-purposes of international diplomacy, loves and dalliances of the noble and the not so noble. Anne emerges as a reed shaken by the winds of a greedy father, a lust-mad king, and no less by her driving ambition to become queen, whatever the cost to herself or to others. And the costs are immeasurable. For her, Henry forsakes the Church of which he had been proclaimed the defender. For her he divorces his wife. For her he defies his advisors and his own best judgment by having Anne crowned Queen. But following her failure to produce the coveted son-heir, she tells an enraged sovereign that she doesn’t love him and never has. Anne becomes a reed that bends without breaking - not even when she places her head on the block to receive the decapitating blow. Over the long years separating the writing of the diary and Elizabeth's reading of it, the lesson is taught by a long departed mother. Elizabeth learns that a queen must uphold commitments to her country and to her subjects - commitments to heed the wise counseling of her advisors - counseling that means she must give up the man she loves and perhaps, love itself. |
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