Steve Donoghue’s posts from the original Open Letters Monthly Archives.
She's an icon, a cautionary tale, a baleful notoriety - she's Anne Boleyn, who bewitched a king and drove him to remake a world, all for the sake of a dream she could never give him. A fascinating new book looks at the way all the ways history has made and re-made Henry VIII's most infamous queen
Read MoreAn intelligent, sensitive Dominican novice finds herself at the heart of passionate conspiracies in the England of Henry VIII
Read MoreHistorian Alison Weir's latest novel features two young heroines, separated by 80 years but united by their fascination with one of history's mysteries: the fate of the Princes in the Tower
Read MoreThe meek and dutiful Jane Seymour, mother of Henry VIII's long-sought male heir, takes center stage in a new historical novel about her life and times.
Read MoreThe daughter of Queen Elizabeth I's chief of espionage has a mind of her own, and in addition to being a dutiful wife to Sir Philip Sidney, she has the makings of an intrepid intelligencer.
Read MoreHistory's most famous divorce shook the world and changed history, but it took much more than a king snapping his fingers to make it happen - obscure men on fast horses risked their livelihoods and their lives to line up the paperwork.
Read MoreThe bishops of Durham Cathedral were also secular princes who could settle legal disputes - and raise armies. A study now out in paperback gives the mighty cathedral and priory the history they deserve.
Read MoreA heartfelt debut novel about an innocent young woman who comes to the court of Henry VIII - except she's Anne Boleyn's cousin, so innocence isn't going to last very long!
Read MoreA new novel tells the story of two women who played a very dangerous game for the biggest prize of all: the throne of England
Read MoreHe survived years of dangerous exile, won his crown on the battlefield, and founded one of the most famous dynasties in human history - and yet we still haven't embraced Henry VII. A spirited biography seeks to change that.
Read MoreA masterful new biography takes Henry VIII down a peg or two
Read MoreTwo Tudor sisters fight for a throne - and love - in the latest historical fiction from Kensington Books
Read MoreA quietly stunning new biography of England's infamous "Bloody Mary"
Read MoreA novel about the woman who came heart-breakingly close to founding a new Tudor dynasty.
Read MoreAs Steve Donoghue writes, the epitome of what a monarch can be was embodied in the massive form of Henry VIII, and not a year passes without another biographer struggling to tackle the man and his legacy. 2007 was no different….
Read MoreThis is a place for all of my writing about books.