Mademoiselle Boleyn: Robin Maxwell

For women in the sixteenth-century, very few options existed outside of marriage or prostitution. For noble women the situation could be even more dire. Too often women were sold into marriage or prostitution as mistresses to aristocratic men by their own fathers for the money and power it would bring. For young Anne Boleyn, daughter to the prominent courtier Thomas Boleyn, the future has already been settled with a betrothal to an Irish lord but first she must survive eight years at the French court of Francois I.

When Anne is called back from the Netherlands, where she had been serving as a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Margaret of Austria, she is told that she will be going to France with her sister Mary to serve under Princess Mary Tudor. Princess Mary is going to be wed to the decrepit French King Louis at the wishes of her brother, King Henry. After Louis's fortuitous passing, Princess Mary goes back to England but Anne and her sister Mary stay in France in the household of Queen Claude. Thomas Boleyn will use this placement as an attempt to gain information on the French court, eventually pressing Mary into a seduction of Francois against her will. Anne must learn to navigate the etiquette of the French court and provide support for her sister while maintaining her own virtue, knowing that her virginity is the one of the only bargaining tools she has as a female in an all-male world.

Much has been written about Anne Boleyn during her reign and subsequent downfall but little is available regarding her childhood. The author has done a lovely job of weaving together the scant bits of information into a viable narrative with a young woman whom one can easily feel for. The history is accented with perfect fiction that fills in the gaps as they should have been, though it does make it hard when one remembers how this lady's life will end. It's truly a beautiful pre-cursor to this tragic tale.
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Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (October 17, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0451222091
ISBN-13: 978-0451222091
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