Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Mar 09, 2009

Kelly rated it:

While this would be a quality history by any standard, I've decided to judge it by exactly the standard that Antonia Fraser sets for herself right at the beginning of the book. She says that her mission is to rescue the six wives of Henry VIII from the sterotypes that have plagued them for centuries (not to mention the horrid singsong of "divorced, beheaded died..." etc). The stereotypes in question are, in order: "The Betrayed Wife, The Temptress, The Good Woman, the Ugly Sister, More...

21 comments like (18 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2010

Katherine rated it:

This book was written about 10 years before Starkey's book and doesn't have the very latest research- (mostly documents which have recently come to light regarding Catherine of Aragon and her supposed virginity at the time of her marriage to Henry)- but otherwise all the relevant history is here as in the former. Fraser has a bit of a different tone in that we get a more initimate sense of the personalities and even more so of daily life at court. One such favorite bit of info: learning about th More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 13, 2008

Jenny rated it:

Really, this book serves to illustrate that coitus interruptus can work out to be a reliable method of birth control, as it probably did for Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn while they were waiting six long years for the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to be married. Which means whatever blushing nun taught me "sexual education" at my all girls' Catholic high school was lying to me. Immaculate Heart of Mary, my ass. Of course, when I pointed out that maybe this could be t More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 14, 2010

Amanda rated it:

As Fraser points out at the start of her novel detailing the lives of Henry's six wives, most people onl know them by either the rhyme "divorced, beheaded, died... divorced, beheaded, survived" or by the female stereotypes attributed to them: "the Betrayed Wife, the Temptress, the Good Woman, the Ugly Sister, the Bad Girl and the Mother Figure." Fraser sets out to debunk myths and present an unbiased view of the six women who came to share Henry's life. Unlike other books of More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2009

Sarai rated it:

Antonia Fraser is one of the most well-known historical biographers out there, and this is another of her thoroughly researched books. Each wife is given attention, but especially Catherine of Aragon, who was married to Henry for 24 years before he tossed her aside for Anne Boleyn. Fraser goes into each of the women's rise and fall from affection of Henry VIII, and how the women related to one another. Catherine of Aragon is portrayed as the most sympathetic of the wives, a woman who was devoted More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Eduardo added it

Almost 10 years before the collective biography of the women in Louis XIV's life, Antonia Fraser wove a marvelous 16th-century tapestry about the six unfortunate women who married Henry VIII. Fraser's storytelling gifts are at their peak here, and one can only wonder at her uncanny knack of choosing one gem of a word after another. Once again, this story is best savoured in the unabridged audiobook version read (mostly) by Donada Peters, despite occasional chapters recorded in an audibly ender-t More...

0 comments like

Oct 30, 2010

Madeline rated it:

"I have...attempted to deal with each woman in turn with the sympathy I feel they all deserve for having had the unenviable fate (to my way of thinking) of being married to Henry VIII. At the same time I have tried to practise the detachment which recognizes that this is an eminently modern judgement; not one of the King's six wives married him against her will. I have also hoped to practise that detachment towards the King himself: the gigantic Maypole at the centre of of all round which t More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2010

Morgan rated it:

I have been watching the Show Time series the Tudors. After reading Wolf Hall I needed to find something else to give me more history and this was the perfect book. I found that actually the film series is in many ways quite historically accurate and some of the remarks are almost verbatim, i.e. Anne Boylen's remarks before her beheading.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 05, 2009

Ben rated it:

Unbearably dry. The author also assumed I had some knowledge of the events that were to come, especially when initially talking about any wife, so she would focus on some seemingly odd details and jump around in the timeline in an odd and slightly confusing manner. This would probably have been acceptable if I was reading this book rather than listening to it while half occupied with something else (namely driving).

This is a long and mostly boring story which, regardless of the aut More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2009

Nancy rated it:

this is really a 3.5 but since we don't have that option, I'll round it up.

The Wives of Henry VIII is well written, very well researched and offers more information than you can possibly hope for about each of Henry's wives. More than half of the book covers Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, with the rest dedicated to the other four. But wait ...there's more...it's also a good examination of historical events, European court intrigue, the religious situation not only in England More...

0 comments like

Jan 13, 2011

Kevin rated it:

Fraser's goal in this, as she says, was to explore and explode the myths we have of the wives and the “roles” we’ve given them all, like the ugly one, the good one, etc. They all really come to life here. Fraser is a great historian and biographer, although she does get bogged down occasionally with the details. It’s almost as if she wants to make absolutely sure that we know her sources and that she's done her research. OK, OK, we get it… Henry doesn’t necessarily come off as a bad person- More...

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2009

Carroll marked it as to-read

I hated "The Other Boleyn Girl." But I'd love to revisit the era, and this would be a good place to start!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Katrina rated it:

I knew I would finish this book today and it has been such an interesting book!

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser takes its reader through each wife, how they overlapped and the events surrounding their marriage to King Henry VIII. I wanted to read this book as I am currently about 3 episodes into the final season of the Tudors and I thought it would make a nice compliment to what was being shown on screen.

Never having much English history myself, Antonia Fraser (w More...

0 comments like

Jan 26, 2010

Andre rated it:

This hard bound book is written by one of the great English novelists of the last half century. Lady Antonia Fraser has written extensively of the early royalty of England. Her books include: Mary, Queen of Scots, Cromwell, King James VI and I, Royal Charles, The Weaker Vessel and The Warrior Queens. But perhaps her most acclaimed work is this book written with intelligence, humor, and elan, as well as the exceptional powers of research and synthesis we have come to expect from Antonia Fraser. More...

0 comments like

Sep 09, 2010

Robin rated it:

Some may think that having already read "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Alison Weir, that reading "The Wives of Henry VIII" would be Tudor over-kill and nothing more than repetition. However, Antonia Fraser manages to put her own spin on these famous wives and brings out details and facets of each woman that I hadn't previously contemplated. I am not sure I could choose a favorite between Weir and Fraser. If I remember correctly, Weir seemed to put a bit more focus on Ann More...

0 comments like

Jan 27, 2010

Bill rated it:

After reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall I was still bit curious about the life of Thomas Cromwell and Antonia Fraser's The Wives of Henry VIII was in the house. Alas, Cromwell is a fairly minor character within these pages despite the key role he played in the management of Henry's kingdom. Neverthless, the history in Fraser's book is gripping enough and reinforces what a murderous time it was not only for wives unable to bear sons but for so many others who had the misfortune to keep company wi More...

0 comments like

Feb 22, 2009

Tracy rated it:

This is a very thorough, scholarly work covering all six of Henry VIII's wives. I found it to be somewhat dense and difficult to read, mostly because there are so many players, most of them related to one another in some way. Between the international politics, the issues of religious reform, and the interactions within the English court itself, one almost needs to be taking thorough notes on who is who. In terms of exploring the subject with great precision, it's a great book, but I'd have l More...

0 comments like

Oct 13, 2011

GoldGato rated it:

Naughty, naughty Henry. He just couldn't keep his hands off the women, which is why he remains such a historic figure and overshadows his own spidery father. For anyone wondering why he kept moving from lass to lass, in the process of alienating himself from the Catholic Church, this is the book to read. I had always found the portraits of his wives to be bland, but in Fraser's hands, they really do come alive.

Catherine of Aragon especially. It was her refusal to allow Henry to simpl More...

0 comments like

Mar 19, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This is the first book that I ever read related to all six of Henry VIII’s wives. Before reading this book I had been souly focused on Anne Boleyn and her life, but through reading Fraser’s work I was able to extend my knowledge and begin a journey to learn not only about Anne, but also about Henry VIII’s other five wives. To learn who they were as woman and how they influenced one of the most famous King’s in English history.

Before I write anything else I have to admit that this is no More...

0 comments like

Jul 15, 2010

MAP rated it:

I am definitely a fan of Tudor History. As of this review, I've read about 20 books, fiction and non-ficiton, about the era. So needless to say, I can sometimes be hard to please when I pick up a Tudor book -- the book has to be coherent and fall along what I snobbily consider to be accepted historical lines, and yet it has to be innovative enough that I'm not bored.

Fraser's book does a GREAT job of this. Her research is impeccable, and I've read many of the stories recounted in t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 31, 2010

Terry rated it:

This has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, but after reading Mantel's "Wolf Hall" I wanted to know more about Henry VIII, his wives and the role of Thomas Cromwell in their lives. Fraser focuses on the wives in a mildly feminist version of history. Cromwell is mentioned only in passing. But the book did fill in some history for me. Although Fraser is sort of a 'pop' historian, the book is very scholarly. She nevertheless gets across the personalities of Henry's More...

0 comments like

Jan 21, 2012

Nicole rated it:

I really liked it. Fraser was relatively unbiased, and it was a very impartial look at each of his wives. Henry is rarely mentioned, and it's a great look at each of his wives, with their own identity and personality. It gives you a good overview of their lives and who they were as people. I really appreciate the fact that it was more about the women as individuals as opposed to the men surrounding them.

But in all honesty, I had some trouble sitting down and reading it. It's no More...

0 comments like

Jul 21, 2011

Charli rated it:

This was my first read by Antonia Fraser and having read quite a bit of Tudor non-fiction, I was quite looking forward to this one. And it certainly didn't disappoint!

What I liked most about this book was the somewhat unique insights it took at times, when looking at these six extraordinary women. It went far beyond the well know 'divorced, beheaded, died....' saga that everyone knows, and gave detailed background on the women themselves, rather than facts based only on the consequence More...

0 comments like

Nov 17, 2010

Julie rated it:

With the recent popularity of Tudor fiction, it is refreshing to read a clear-cut comprehensive biography of the six women who are often inadequately portrayed. Fraser’s chronology is smooth and the transition from one woman’s history to the next is succinct. While the book sometimes gets bogged down with politics and family lineage, the mood is decisively set for 16th Century scandal. While Henry VIII is a notorious historical figure, known for his tyranny and serial matrimonies, the women i More...

0 comments like

Apr 15, 2010

Anna rated it:

Fantastic writing, impecable research - Antonia Fraser really brought to life all of Henry VIII's six wives (and by that I mean that she did not ignore Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves and Katherine Howard, who usually get one chapter each). I really adore her writing style, it's informative without being dry, plus she adds little touches of sarcasm which are just delightful.

Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr are all analy More...

0 comments like

Jul 21, 2009

Leslie rated it:

King Henry the Eighth liked to have sex. Let’s just get that out of the way.

*blink*

He thought himself the cat’s meow, a stud muffin, God’s gift to women even after his weight increased dramatically and a sore on his swollen leg reeked of disease. After all, he was King of England. But unlike other monarchs at the time whose spouses were selected from political standpoints and strategic alliances, King Henry in all cases but Anna of Cleves and even then he liked her pic More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 28, 2007

Lois rated it:

Another great biography of this most gigantoid figure in, well, pre-Elizabethan England.... I say that of course because as fascinating and endlessly interesting as his story is, for me he is still partly, merely, the temporary husband of Anne Boleyn and the father of Elizabeth I. The legend of the Tudors; I laid awake at night as a kid telling my younger sister bedtime stories of Henry and Anne Bolyen, Bloody Mary, and good Queen Bess. Yeah! Every aspect of that history is rich with the conflu More...

0 comments like

Oct 24, 2009

Jenna rated it:

This book was a very good, but some parts were quite dry. Once I figured out how to focus on the stories and stop looking at all of the footnotes I found it easier to read. The subject is one of my favorites and the author was able to portray the "wives" in a new light for me that was still factual. It did make me particularly happy that I live in the 21st century. This book has a lot of detail, some of which I didn't care about at all and some that made the history much richer. T More...

0 comments like

Nov 09, 2009

Ysabel rated it:

A really good book with lots of facts about each of the wives. I highly reccomend the book. The only downside for me was that she added a prologue where she stated that she did not have a favourite queen (when she clearly does prefer Katherine) and that she wanted to change the stereotypes of the women (which she failed in because each women was portrayed in the way every other historian has portrayed them before). If she'd left off the prologue then I wouldn't have judged her opinions quite More...

0 comments like

Aug 06, 2011

Rod rated it:

When Henry the VIII banished each of his wives, each one reacted differently. Catherine of Aragon left with a broken heart. Anne Bolyne laughed hysterically. Anne of Cleves held her head high. And Katherine Howard physically resisted. Fraser does a fantastic job of using the historical evidence to tell us what motivated each woman, but one can't help wondering what is absent from the historical documents. The reader is left wanting to know more about them.

0 comments like

reviews