Brilliant!

Absolutely loved it and really enjoyed it. Absolutely Brilliant. Absolutely fantastic. Very good. I hope the next one is just as good as this one.

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Excellent

A most wonderful book. Completely changed my perception of this most famous and admirable woman.

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captivating

Just so so great, lovely narration, the depth and texture lept out to the point where I was completely absorbed in Anna's world. I couldn't stop the tears coming at the end! Also I now realise I've been pronouncing Kleve all wrong

it's Kleve like wafer not Cleeves like sleeves 😁

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amazing

love this series, makes you really think of each story in a new light and bribgs it all to life! loved this one, new love for Anna Of Kleve

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Anna of Kleve

The story of the wives of Henry VIII continues in this series which has been intricately researched by Alison Weir. I went to a talk by the author about Anna of Kleve and she was so passionate about her and knew her subject so well that I knew that the story would not disappoint. The fiction fills in the gaps between the facts in a way that is wholly believable and gripping. The narrator is my favourite so far in the series, and brought the emotion and drama to the story that drives me to keep listening, and has me wanting to get back to it as soon as possibke.

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Amazing!

Incredibly moving account of the life of perhaps the least well known of the 6 wives of Henry VIII. Beautifully read.

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Spellbinding

A fantastic book to listen too really enjoyed learning more about this great lady and found it hard to switch off! Highly recommend.

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A Good Book, Well Narrated

A book I thoroughly enjoyed, Alison Weir's historical fiction, has yet to disappoint me. A very pleasant listening experience indeed.

Esther Wane was perfect choice as narrator, with a very natural sounding German accent. An essential for this book

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The Most Fortunate

Well, I've just finished listening to this brilliant book and I am not ashamed to say that the final few minutes of this wonderfully told story had tears slowly running down my cheeks. There has been one, perhaps two other books I have had the pleasure to read that have elicited such a response so it is testimony indeed to the beautifully portrayed character of Anna of Cleaves that Alison Weir has masterfully written.

I have to now say that this fourth book in the Six Queens series has surpassed my enjoyment of all before it in this epic series. Perhaps the ultimate irony of all is how Anna of Cleaves was short lived as a queen and wife of Henry but outlived all other queens as well as witness the reign of no less than four monarchs during her life. I think Anna of Cleaves is overlooked when considering Henry's six wives given how short her marriage was to him and many would thus consider her to be largely irrelevant. I, too, did wonder beforehand how Weir could put together a book of such length given my understanding of her place in history but was so pleased to find how superbly well Weir fleshed out Anna's character.

As I've said before with respect to these fictionalised treatments based around historical fact stories, this way of portraying such historical figures really allows the reader to see these as real people with real lives and with such esteemed historians as Alison Weir at the helm, you know that any fictionalized elements will be both be woven seamlessly together and very plausibly with the known historical facts.


Anne Boleyn's motto may have been "The Most Happy" but surely Anna of Cleaves should be "The Most Fortunate". She had her troubles in later life with money and died far too young but did far better than any of Henry's other queens I think

Esther Wane did a wonderful job of narration with convincing German and French accents. However, one minor discrepancy I did note was that the Margaret Douglas character lost her Scottish accent compared to her rendition in the prior book in the series. This appears to be either an oversight in the production given Douglas's Scottish heritage or maybe the narrator wasn't able to render a decent Scottish accent.

This story really surprised and pleased me and was rather an unexpected treat given my very little knowledge of this woman. Weir has worked such magic here with Henry's fourth wife and I really liked the person she has been shown to be in this excellent story.

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5 people found this helpful

Refreshingly different

This is the first novel I have read/listened to which covers the majority of Anna of Kleve’s life. It was fascinating to know more about this Queen, and who she was both before and after Henry.

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