Customer Reviews
very enlightning very hard to put down - By: T. Johnson, 18 Jul 2008 
I was very impressed by this book, after reading 'The other Boleyn girl' my appetite for reading up on my history was wettened. This book is a real eye opener for how England used to be & what the people of court were required to do in their day to day lives & what they grew to fear. It shows us what an insecure man Henry was & how the people who he surrounded himself with influenced & manipulated him turning him from a man who was seemingly nice to a feared man, however it shows us that even then he was much loved by most. It explores how Henry could be ruthless in pursuing what he wanted & in a cruel way but then he was easily distracted & if things did not please him he was quick to & with no conscience to rid himself of the things that stood in his way with no back glance. It shows us how Henrys wives modelled the king & what each of them offered him. A true insight to years lived long ago.
Informative & intriguing - By: Ms. L. J. Waldron, 28 Apr 2008 
I must admit I didn't know it would be a biography-style book when I bought it, but it also had aspects of a story in it which made it a good read.
I liked the way the book progressed from one wife to another & particularly liked the way the book was divided into parts & chapters which seemed to produce a sound organisation & clear, easy navigation of the book not only as a fictional read but also as a reference book.
Alison Weir is clearly a very dedicated historian writer. Facts & fiction carefully fused together & arguments sorted out (paintings & portrait descriptions were argued very well). I liked the way she sometimes brings the 21st century into her writing, explaining for example, what remains today of the palaces & houses of Henry VIII & the burial sites of the monarchs. Very interesting stuff.
All in alll, i enjoyed reading it although in future may stick to Alison's fiction.
A Total Joy To Read - By: J. Chippindale, 18 Sep 2007 Alison Weir has written many non fiction books on the British monarchy. Her research is always meticulous & her books are written in such a way that they can be read with enjoyment by anyone. By that I mean they are not written in the same way that historical text books were written when I attended school. They are written in a way that not only provides accurate information on the subject but also to give pleasure to the reader. I enjoyed the book enormously.
Henry VIII was one of the most intelligent & also most difficult of men. A fine athlete in his youth, a scholar & at times the most likeable of men. But as his life progressed he became more & more unpredictable & could turn on people at the drop of a hat, sometimes with fatal consequences.
For any woman to be married to such a complex character must have been a daunting experience. Probably tantamount to walking on egg shells. When the man they are married to is also the King of England there position would be virtuallly untenable & in a number of his marriages this proved to be the case. However the marriage started out, it soon became apparent that no woman could keep Henry happy for long.
History comes to life - By: gchantler@yahoo.com, 12 Jan 2001 I am a true & avid fan of Alison Weir.I have read alll her books & feel that history has come alive once again. I had that feeling as a chlid,she makes alll her figures so real,the detail of their lives,the relationships,the passion & the tragedy.
The past becomes a place where one wants to visit & even stay a while,in order to get to know the characters. This is the stuff of good writing which makes for great reading. Buy & read anything by her,Children of England is especiallly good. But the 6 wives is one of the best I have read & re-read in a long time
