Mademoiselle Boleyn Paperback – October 17, 2007

I'm a voracious reader of Renaissance and Tudor era books regardless if they are fact or fiction or, perhaps my favorite, historical fiction. I always read the reviews prior to purchasing a book if I do not have previous knowledge or a recommendation. I was so very close to not buying this book based on a reoccurring theme I found in the reviews. I wrestled with purchasing this book. The opposing forces were the negative reviews about the strong sexual content in the book versus my love of the genre, Anne Boleyn, and the interesting concept of a story about her life prior to the rather well known rest of the story. After all, Anne Boleyn has been a literary figure in countless books and here was a fresh and captivating twist on an intriguing figure. What to do?I’m not averse to sexuality in a book as long as it has a nexus to the story. I’m not a prude but I’m not overly fond of the use of sex as the whole story line or just for shock value, fluff, or space fillers. There are plenty of “ADULT” type books out there if that is your interest but that wasn’t my goal. I interpreted the less than flattering reviews regarding the use of sex in this book in the later category and that concerned me. Yet, there were reviews which spoke extremely highly of the book and didn’t mention the sex at all. A conundrum. I decided I would purchase the book to see for myself as I had a guess of why there might be some descriptive sex scenes that would merit that much comment involved. I’m so glad, no make that fortunate, that I trusted my instincts and purchased the book. And my guess on the reasoning behind the inclusion of the sexual parts was spot on!I will do my best not to reveal any spoilers in my critique, yet some general information is unavoidable but readily present in already existing reviews.This book has been grossly negatively misrepresented in my opinion. It is the story of Anne Boleyn’s formidable years. The time when her personality, morals, values and thought processes were forming. It paints gorgeously written landscapes of multiple foreign courts, famous monarchs and people, interesting and plausible dialogue and much more.The dialogue is that of the period. Word usage etc. (Some language, in regards to the relatively small amount of sexual content, in relation to the rest of the content in the book, may be surprising to some but you must keep in mind the verbiage of the time period. This book is written as the people of the period spoke. This is less politically correct now than our society uses however; that was their descriptors at the time. For instance, describing the male genital regions as another word for a rooster. While our society finds it a very vulgar word, it was the common usage then. This doesn’t mean the book is fraught with horrible sexual depictions, it means the author is historically accurate. Something I prize in historical fiction.)Moving on, the author provides a wonderful back story, of historical accuracy, in which she weaves fictional verbal interactions. It is in these interactions we see Anne’s moral compass and fiber being molded. Perhaps glimpses into her reasons for her later behavior. I feel it is paramount to keep that in mind during the reading of this story. In so many of her experiences, relationships, mentors we see the mental molding of the woman she is to become. And with that thought process we see in depth glimpses into the (historically true) lasciviousness of the court of France under King Louis. He was well known for his lax moral fiber, his devil may care attitude, and his practical joking ways about matters that many wouldn’t joke about, even now days. As well as his abuse of kingly rights (though they weren’t seen that way then by many.) These glimpses are part of what forms Anne presently and for the decisions she would make later in life that lead her to become one of the most intriguing historical figures ever. The fact that she was a woman further punctuates this infamy and is, most likely, a large reason why she is so well known. She made decisions and took actions that were the prerogative of men, not women, and for quite some time, got away with it..though not without a price tag as we all know. This further inflamed her legacy, memory, perceptions, and judgments about her.This book expands on her rearing, learning, her role models, and how their tutelage formed her. This book examines the positive and the NEGATIVE things she was exposed to at the French court. This is a key point. The French court was a cornucopia of diverse (and to be frank, sometimes downright perverse) actions, ideas and good and bad concepts beyond the time. While not all of these were out in the open for all to see, they were none the less there and the story here is what Anne took away from these positive and negative experiences in shaping her as a child, girl, and then a woman. We see the effects of her sister Mary’s life, what it did to Mary, and how it shaped Anne’s belief system on sex, marriage, reputation, womanly comportment, women’s roles in society at large as well as to their family and spouses. It causes her to question things that many women wouldn’t normally question during that time. (Let alone for centuries to come.)It really is a beautiful book about a truly intelligent woman who was born before her time. The author titillates us with ideas that Anne capitalized on her youth, experiences, intellect, and many other facets to do her best with what little control she had and molding it to her benefit. And it is an undisputed fact that women were mere tools in this world and here was a creature who did all she could to buck that system later in life. Did you ever wonder why? Oh, she must have been born evil? I disagree. We know the ultimate price she paid in the end however; the idea of what made her challenge the hand she was dealt is not only intriguing as a concept but is written exquisitely and plausibly considering the very high regard, esteem, and opinion Anne Boleyn was held in prior to returning to the English court.As for the scenes relating to a sexual nature. There are a few, but if I had to percentage out the book…I would say there is 5% sexually related material and it is in the context of the way the French court was and how it shaped her decisions as well as the natural maturing process all humans go through. Most instances are not meant to be erotic in nature. In fact, most are degrading. It is meant to show the degradation the women experience and their helplessness and the resulting effect it has on their life/reputation. Some of it is graphically described but again, not in a pornographic context, though a few areas are rather descriptive, again historically accurate for King Louis. It is explaining the practices and expectations of the time and era. If you can please keep that in mind. It is a depiction of the specific era and court life. That portion though pales in comparison to the impressive writing and depiction of all the other facets of the court and era. Stunning and heartfelt. Many areas moved me.Do not let the reviews regarding the sexual content dissuade you from experiencing this beautiful, well written, amazing book. They are vastly overstated IMO and people didn’t realize or recognize the significance they have in the big picture or time period/French Court of Louis. (Unless you absolutely can’t handle any intercourse at all written about in any book.) I can’t praise this book enough. This is a must read for lovers of the period and Anne Boleyn. Even as historical fiction it has much fact in it, and a ring of plausibility and truth. I can seriously see how her formative years could equal to the picture the author painted for us. I will be re-reading this book because I enjoyed the scenes and the fabulous story line and attention detail so much. The contrasting female personas are amazing and the ideas are remarkable when contrasted with the different aspects of Anne’s later life and choices. You can almost see the influences of each opposite spectrum in her diverse actions. This book truly left me not only wanting more but questioning the Anne I thought I had a true grasp of. The what-if’s left my mind questioning and exploring long after the last page was read. Please give this book a chance and consider what the author was trying to communicate and make you think about and see. Glorious book, glorious writing! I can’t praise or suggest it enough. The only way it could have ben improved upon is if there was more. I was entranced with the visions laid out for me. I hope you enjoy them just as much. Happy reading to Anne lovers!

Caution to anyone who does not like to read raunchy books. Some sections made me blush! However, as anyone familiar with the Rennaissance court of Francois I knows, Francois got around. Further, women at that time period were used as pawns to advance the power of their families. Thus, while the virtual prostitution of Mary Boleyn is shocking for modern tastes, ambitious parents would often push their (young and presumably unwilling) daughters into the beds of kings. While there is no historical proof that Mary Boleyn was forced to be the kings mistress by her parents, we do know that Mary Boleyn was very promiscuous while in France and later became Henry VIII's mistress. I have read that Mary Boleyn's family forced her to return to England because of her promiscuous behavior, but this does not mean that the cause of the behavior was Mary herself. Indeed, she later became a lady in waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon in England in Henry VIII's sexually corrupt court, so it is plausible that her parents were not all that disappointed in her behavior and that she only left France because Francois had tired of her and her "job" was done.The raunchiness of the novel is also necessary to explain the forces that shaped Anne Boleyn. Anne comes of age in this corrupt surrounding and sees how her sister is humiliated and degraded because of her promiscuity. Anne carries this knowledge with her to England and refuses to give herself to King Henry for 6 years. Most women in her position would have given herself to the King as his mistress, particularly since divorce was not a realistic option at the time.Another important facet of the book is the influence of Princess Marguerite on Anne, which has an important impact, as we all know, on subsequent English history. This portrayal of Anne as a highly intelligent women (which we know she was) and one who garnered great respect in the French court is very important to understanding Anne in her most famous role as Henry's second queen.Lastly, the picture Maxwell paints of the Boleyn family is very helpful in understanding how a woman such as Anne ended up as the wife of Henry VIII in the first place. While we cannot possibly know all of the internal thoughts and machinations of the Boleyn family, we do know that they were ambitious. Maxwell helps us understand what it was to be the daughter of such a family and how little autonomy Anne actually had over her body and herself.In sum, I think this is a must read for anyone interested in the English Reformation and Tudor history. This is also a must read for anyone interested in King Francois I and the early part of his reign.

One of the best portrayals of Anne Boleyn I have ever read. As a Tudor historian I highly recommend it.

I’ve read several of Ms. Maxwell’s books, so I expected this to be well written and researched. However, I loved the dive into the life of Anne Boleyn when she was a child at the court of France. This is a subject I’ve not yet seen tackled, and it was done with all the detail and lush detail I love to see in Tudor era historic fiction. I enjoyed it, and loved the fact that it viewed Anne from a direction not often seen in books about the Boleyns.

dennoch schade, dass nur die ersten Jahre von Anne (dh. in Frankreich) behandelt werden. Ob alles so historisch korrekt ist bezweifele ich auch. Der Unterhaltungswert ist dennoch hoch. Für jeden der keine historische Abhandlung will interessant.

I'm wavering between two and three here, and I'm inclined for the lower. For one main reason. I do not like my historical figures acting as mouthpieces to put forth the writers personal ideas or beliefs. And doubly not when that contradicts actual history at several points (there's a full review on The Head that Launched a Thousand Books which lists them all. I'm too lazy to put in the time and effort that that brave, extraordinary soul puts in.)If you're a Boleyn fan, I'm pretty sure this is required reading simply because books on Anne's early life are painfully thin on the ground. And yet there must be better than this. From awkward scenes of Anne discovering how to make herself 'explode' (and describing the giving of this knowledge to a friend as more valuable than the gift of several dresses that in todays currency would have been worth £2000-£5000 each??!) to scenes of her walking in on Francois I making his mistresses pleasure each other with candles. There is a prevailing theme here and it's this: women are pawns to be used in the games of men. Several characters explicitly state this several times, so there's literally no way you could miss it. Against this desolate landscape Anne develops a strong interest in modern feminist ideals and grows up.I could go on, but it would almost feel pointless. If you're a Boleyn addict you've already added this to your cart and are saying to yourself "there's no way it can be as bad as she's saying!" If you're just a historical fiction fan then please take this as warning: there is better historical fiction out there. It awaits you. Go forth and find it.

I was really looking forward to reading this book to get an insight into Anne's early days in the French Court but threw it away before I got half way. Perhaps Ms Maxwell thought that putting porn in her book would make it more saleable, how wrong! No historical substance whatsoever , made up rubbish, why did I waste my money. Now binned and forgotten. Must be better than this out there.