Alison Weir

As well as being an acclaimed historical novelist, Alison Weir is of course one of our greatest popular historians. Her impeccably researched biographies of figures such as Henry VIII, Eleanor of Acquitaine and The Princes in the Tower have been described as reading like the paciest of novels. In her latest, she turned her attention to that most ill-fated of femme fatales, Anne Boleyn. The Lady in the Tower assesses the evidence that turned Henry’s love to hate and ultimately led to the execution of his most famous queens.

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The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn
The imprisonment and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, in May 1536 was unprecedented in English history. It was sensational in its day, and has exerted endless fascination over the minds of historians, novelists, dramatists, poets, artists and film-makers ever since. Anne was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 2 May 1536, and tried and found guilty of high treason on 15 May.

Her supposed crimes included adultery with five men, one her own brother, and plotting the King's death. Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest. Was it Henry VIII who, estranged from Anne, instructed Master Secretary Thomas Cromwell to fabricate evidence to get rid of her so that he could marry Jane Seymour? Or did Cromwell, for reasons of his own, construct a case against Anne and her faction, and then present compelling evidence before the King? Or was Anne, in fact, guilty as charged? Never before has there been a book devoted entirely to Anne Boleyn's fall.

Alison Weir has reassessed the evidence, demolished many romantic myths and popular misconceptions, and rewritten the story of Anne's fall, creating a richly researched and impressively detailed portrait of the dramatic last days of one of the most influential and important figures in English history.

If you want to read an extract of The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, visit LoveReading.co.uk