Autobiography of Henry VIII

I can not express how moved I was by this book. I have read extensively on Henry VIII but this book truly brought him to life. We see him not as the obese king with a fondness for the axeman, but as a smart, emotional, however somewhat egotistical, young king. We watch Henry age, fall in and out of love, and become an old man with many health problems. The characters in this book are so very real and George did a tremendous job bringing the court of Henry VIII alive for her readers.

Margaret George has written a number of historical fiction books. I have enjoyed them all but this is by far my favourite. I readily admit that I’m not a fan of Henry VIII, not just because of how he treated his wives and mistresses but also how he bent his kingdom to suit his own needs and vanities. However, George’s sympathetic telling humanizes the man that Charles Dickens called “a blot of blood and grease upon the History of England.”  

The book is unique, written from Henry’s point of view, with notes from his fool, Will Somers, that help the reader separate what really happened from Henry’s own (kinda crazy) interpretations. Yes, at 950 pages, it’s a behemoth – but Henry himself was larger than life and his story really does need that long to be told fully.