|
Vengeance Is Mine: A Novel of Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Lady Rochford--the woman who helped destroy them both. | 
| Author: Brandy Purdy
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $10.65
You Save: $6.30 (37%)
New (15) Used (7) from $8.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 14295
Media: Paperback
Edition: 0
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 258
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0595481248
EAN: 9780595481248
ASIN: 0595481248
Publication Date: December 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New! Perfect Condition!
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
There was room for only one woman in George Boleyns hearthis sister, the mercurial and fascinating Anne Boleyn, who was destined to change history and wear a crown. To his adoring wife, Lady Jane Rochford, he was cold and indifferent. When Anne failed to give Henry VIII the son she had promised him, and he was tiring of her tart tongue and tantrums, false charges of adultery were hastily concocted. Lady Rochford provided the crowning touch when she accused her husband and his beloved sister of incest. Both died upon the scaffold. Lady Rochford paid dearly for her treachery. She was left alone, shunned and friendless, until wild, sweet, wanton Katherine Howard danced into her life and became Henrys fifth queen. When Katherine, disgusted by the obese and impotent Kings fumbling attempts to make love to her, took a lusty young lover Lady Rochford helped them meet. And when the truth came out, she was the first to betray them. As she sits in the Tower of London, being tormented by the ghosts of George and Anne Boleyn, and awaiting her own appointment with the headsmans axe, Lady Rochford takes up her pen. Vengeance Is Mine is her story.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
Lady Rochford...what a crazy bitch! August 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read alot of Historical Fiction about the Tudors as well as non fictional research and while no one can be sure what happened in the bedrooms of Anne Boleyn it seems that Jane Parker Boleyn gave false testimony about her husband, George committing incest with Anne. This book has her sneaking and spying like the obsessed crazy woman she was. When Katherine Howard becomes Queen Jane is her confidant and tells Katherine's story and what a story that is. I want to do more research to find out how much of it is documented. The book is short (246 pages) and entertaining.
Good reading! August 24, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was interested to see a book on the well-covered story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn from a different person's point of view, and Purdy's fact-based fiction with Lady Jane Rochford as the protagonist doesn't disappoint. She brings the neglected wife of George Boleyn to life, and we are able to feel her pain and frustration build as she is ignored by all while her sister-in-law Anne rises to power...and then, with Jane's help, falls completely.
The story continues after Anne's death as Henry meets and rejects Anne of Cleeves, and further on when Jane befriends young Catherine Howard and becomes her confidante. Repulsed by the now-grotesque Henry, Catherine indulges with other men (and in this story, also with women) with Jane's discreet help.
Purdy did her research well with all three wives; it might have been nice to have Catherine's story longer, but in fact much less is known about her than about Anne, so the author would have been speculating anyway.
My one complaint is that Jane is conveniently able to follow people without being seen, listens at doors and hears every word clearly, and is even sitting, unnoticed, in the room when very private conversations are being held. It seemed like a mere plot device, but it did serve the purpose of letting us see these scenes through Jane's eyes even though it is extremely unlikely she witnessed much of it.
For those with an interest in the Henry VIII stories, this is an enjoyable read.
 Inaccurate, and Badly Written August 16, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I know most of the reviews here are positive, and I was almost afraid to post one of the few negative viewpoints, but if a review like this had been here when I bought the book, I might have saved my money. So for those who are like me, hope this helps.
I'm almost embarrassed I read this.
I mean, I'm no stranger to trashy Tudor fiction -- I have read everything Philipa Gregory has had to say on the subject, for instance. I'm certainly no stranger to actual Tudor history, having been fascinated by the dynamic Henry VIII for as long as I can remember.
This was, without a doubt, the worst, most lurid, and poorly-researched piece of fiction I have every read about the Tudors.
I was so excited by the idea of this book -- who ever tells this story from Jane Boleyn's perspective? -- that even though I requested that my local library order it, I then went out and bought it for myself so i wouldn't have to wait. I was really hoping the author could add some facets to a historical figure that is usually propped up like a cardboard villain.
Instead, I got cardboard villain from inside the head of cardboard villain. Her motivations were unclear even as she's explaining them.
But that's not all. There was a serious lack of accuracy in the book, from the usage of nicknames that were not extant at the time, incorrect time lines, alterations of famous speeches, placing historical figures in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a few brazen passages that couldn't have been mistakes. They must have been intentionally incorrect.
I would describe how absolutely pornographic this book was, but I'm afraid this isn't the venue for it. I've read coyer erotica. By the time I got to the ludicrous sex scene between Catherine Howard and Anna of Cleves (no really!), who kept shouting "Ya Liebchen!" (And don't get me started on the whole line about giving the "Flanders Mare" the ride of her life) it just got funny. I was reading passages aloud to my howling friends, tears streaming down our faces.
And yet, it might have gotten away with it all, or at least some of it, if the writing quality was any better than that of your average internet fan fiction. Really, I swear people did not constantly refer to each other as "Bluff King Hal," "The Rose Without a Thorn," "The Goggle-Eyed Whore," and so forth. It's as if the author was so proud of having unearthed these well-known nicknames, she had to use them as frequently as possible. And the dialect of Anna of Cleves (particularly in the aforementioned sex scene) was... oh there are no words. There were tense shifts, point of view shifts, and if anything else could be shifted, it probably was.
I'm just so terribly disappointed to see such and interesting subject treated so badly. Although it is non-fiction, and therefore less speculative and exploratory, I guess I'll have to be satisfied with Julia Fox's biography. (I know she appears in Gregory's Boleyn Inheritance, but she is not the sole focus of the novel.)
For the connoisseur of Tudor history, even the fluffier fiction sort, stay away. There are much better things out there that, even when they aren't 100% accurate, are at least better told.
 If you are Interested In this Period of History....Buy this Book August 13, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
All I can say is, Yes this has been written from a very different Point of View, yes there are Graphic Descriptions, which are necessary to the Story. Once you start to read you will not want to put down. Brandy Purdy has captured an essence, has captured the feeling and Put herself In the Mindset of being there. This Book will hold your Imagination and Keep you there, you will feel as you read...isnt that what a very well written book should do.
Brandy Understands what she is writing about, She has an Excellent Understanding, Please Give this Book a chance, Not everyone will understand or Feel or Agree with it, Brandy is Putting Out for you to make that decision as you read it,I know More people are going to Feel what Brandy is expressing that those who wont.
You wont be Disappointed with this book if you are Open to a Different point of View, a Different Side to the Story, This will Challenge you, Please Enjoy.
I hope there are very Many More Titles to come from this Very Talented Author.
Thank you Brandy.
Obsessive Love August 10, 2008
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
This historical novel tells the tale of Anne Boleyn's rise and fall as well of that of silly Catherine Howard from the point of view of the woman responsible for both of their deaths: Lady Jane Rochford, Anne Boleyn's sister-in-law. It is her obsessive love for George Boleyn and subsequent jealousy of the close relationship between George and Anne that will lead her to give testimony at their trials for treason. As a result, both suffer death by beheading for incest and treason, along with a number of other courtiers accused of intimacy with the queen. The portrait of Henry VIII in this novel is far from complimentary, portraying him as an aging, obese egotist. This a great read for those who have become enamored of "The Tudors" on Showtime and gives some real insight into the characters involved in that historical soap opera.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
