The Boleyn Bride by Brandy Purdy
Published By:Kensington Publishing Corp. (@KensingtonBooks), 25 February, 2014
Official Author Websites: Blog | *previously this author had a site and Facebook
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, E-book
Page Count: 272
Converse on Twitter via: #BoleynBride, #BrandyPurdy & #EmilyPurdy
Acquired Book By: Whilst the blog tour for “The Boleyn Bride” was underway with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, I was making my rounds to the different blogs who were hosting either an Author Interview or a Book Review, or a combination thereof. Although I was not personally connected to the blog tour myself, I oft-times find that the books which tour with HFVBT are ones that I am interested in and thereby my visits on their tour are a pure delight for me! As I am as bubbly on my visits as I am on my own blog as well as Twitter, I left some happy-hearted comments on behalf of this book & author. As she was a new-to-me author as at that point in time I had not heard of her works or known of her works as well as I do now. Shortly after my visits, I received a note from Ms. Purdy asking me if I would be interested in reading her novels. I received a complimentary copy of “The Boleyn Bride” direct from the author herself, Brandy Purdy in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On how I know Ms. Purdy: As I was contacted originally a few months back to read both “The Boleyn Bride” and “The Queen’s Rivals”, we came to find ourselves enjoying the conversation which flowed together rather organically out of that correspondence. I have appreciated getting to know a fellow writer, especially one who writes historical fiction as that is one branch of literature although I deeply appreciate to read, was always a bit trepiderious to pen! I give such a strong nod to the writers who write such delicious historicals, because they give us a way to drink in history in an agreeable manner! I am honoured to have been given the chance to get to know her better in the process of scheduling the reviews on my blog. She even kindly enclosed bookmarks which feature her novels, and I’ve been enjoying them as I read! Bookmarks have become one of my favourite surprises to find enclosed within a book I receive for review!
I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with her through the past few months by email. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time.
Book Synopsis: A NOVEL OF ELIZABETH BOLEYN
From carefree young woman to disillusioned bride, the dazzling lady who would become mother and grandmother to two of history’s most infamous queens, has a fascinating story all her own…
At sixteen, Elizabeth Howard envisions a glorious life for herself as lady-in-waiting to the future queen, Catherine of Aragon. But when she is forced to marry Thomas Boleyn, a wealthy commoner, Elizabeth is left to stagnate in the countryside while her detested husband pursues his ambitions. There, she raises golden girl Mary, moody George, and ugly duckling Anne–while staving off boredom with a string of admirers. Until Henry VIII takes the throne…
When Thomas finally brings his highborn wife to London, Elizabeth indulges in lavish diversions and dalliances–and catches the lusty king’s eye. But those who enjoy Henry’s fickle favor must also guard against his wrath. For while her husband’s machinations bring Elizabeth and her children to the pinnacle of power, the distance to the scaffold is but a short one–and the Boleyn family’s fortune may be turning…
Author Biography:
Brandy Purdy is the author of several historical novels. When she’s not writing, she’s either reading, watching classic movies, or spending time with her cat, Tabby. She first became interested in history at the age of nine or ten when she read a book of ghost stories that contained a chapter about the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London. Visit her website at brandypurdy.com for more information about her books. You can also follow her via her blog at brandypurdy.blogspot.com where she posts updates about her work and reviews of what she has been reading.
Historical backdrop focusing on the Tudors:
As odd as this might sound, my knowledge of the Tudors and of the Elizabethan era has grown tremendously over the score of time since I started blogging about books! Within the short few seven months of 2014, I can even say I have felt a stronger connection to the era and to the realm within the Courts than any other moment of my life, outside of the fact I’ve always have held a close attachment to Sir William Shakespeare! We all know of certain families by name alone without the beneficial back-story of who they were as they lived nor of the ramifications of their circumstances as their lives unfolded. One of the best bits about historical fiction is that if we find ourselves inspired to read one story about a specific person or persons who lived in the historical past, we have the tendency to seek out more about them either in non-fiction or continue to source other authors who draw a breath of their world onto the printed page in fiction.
The Boleyn family is surely one of the ones I am referring too as having ‘known by name’ but without the close connections of who they were outside of the superficial and my interest in the Courts of England is one that I have never yet had the chance to broach! I love British History, mind you, but I also like a bit of brevity to what I read, as I do not always have to read a serious accountment of history but rather, I find myself attracted to stories that either are lifted straight from the annals of historical records OR conjured out of the imaginary heart of its writer. I went into reading The Boleyn Bride full of expecting to experience the Tudors and their interior worlds as a reader who is enjoying her pursuit of their lives!
My Review of The Boleyn Bride:
By far the opening paragraph of The Boleyn Bride is a riveting account of how not only to draw your focus on the novel in your hands but to ascertain the height of the emotional conviction of the narrating voice resounding in your ears! The conveyance of the emotional rip tides is a credit to Purdy who knows how to entice your attention outside your everyday sphere and jettison you completing into a new realm; where ambition and passion are the tools needed to succeed at Court. The words she choose to stir your heart-strings are guttingly honest as well. She infuses physical action inside her words as she paints a livid scene of exchanges between her characters. The fullness of her strokes allows you to not only absorb the fervor of what is being said, but gives you a reason to envision it as well. There is hurried canter to the voice telling the story, as if Elizabeth Howard (the main protagonist) herself feels as though the waxing of the hours on her life are nearing their end of course.
Elizabeth’s heart is bleeding onto the page as she tries to explain her mental health as much as her observations of the direction in which her life has taken her forward. She is graciously given ample time to expand on her thoughts and musings, as she leads the reader through the passageways of her mind without worry over time elapsing too quickly. The pacing is that of peering into the interior world of a character who very much wants to defend herself to you, but at the very same time, has the propensity to remain honest, true, and cordial with who she is as you meet her during a period of intense sorrow. Her story is told in diary-format (a personal re-collective musing) as a way of imparting everything that is aching in her heart and throwing her off-balance from reality.
The story shifts back to her early beginnings at court, when she was sixteen and had dreamt of a posh match in matrimony. She was raised to be amongst the gilded and wealthy, to need nor want for nothing, and to be treated with adoration and love. She had not realised that what she desired and what she would be destined to embrace were two very different birds of a feather! Elizabeth was bold as she was without tact or merit of harnessing back her words, freely speaking what flitted into her mind and walked through her life without forsaking the moment if she could find a way to live passionately and through desire alone. Instead of being grounded in the areas of womanhood and motherhood attributions that most would appreciate being given, she was more affective at securing the more superficial fancies and indulgences that allowed her to vacate her duties. A bit of a selfish tart in many regards, as she held in such high esteem the bits of life that are so very fleeting, rather than holding on to something more substantial and real. On her behalf, I do not believe she was given a reason to expect anything more than sufferance for what her lot in life was chosen of her plight. Women’s rights and freedoms were not yet a readily known.
As we follow through her marriage and life leading up to when Anne Boleyn enters into her own maturity, we start to see the patterns of where her indifference toward the domestic arts rings true in the lack of knowledge Anne has on being a woman and a wife. She has mastered only the art of a lover, taking after her mother on that score, but it is a bit of a curse in the regard that lust alone will never bring true happiness nor will a false beginning to marriage. A slow spark of a spitfire, Anne’s voice is strongly heard in the closing chapters as she starts to move away from her mother and takes life by storm! Both women never truly achieved what they desperately were seeking out life, because both were never actually given a chance to experience a life outside of the Court. Their entire world was led to a different rhythm than most, and where others might hold back on the graces of knowing a better way in which to live, they each ploughed ahead as if the setting sun would soon become their prophetic doom.
This is an interlude on Tudor history where the appearances of Elizabeth Howard and Anne Boleyn’s life during their time at Court looked rather keen and romantic, was quite a different take on reality. I am uncertain where truth and fiction merge or tie together, as I am only just now pursuing an interest in reading Tudor fiction, but what this novel does bring out is how pervasive and vain some ladies and gents at Court approached life. They lived for the greedy joy of the moment, to export their physical assets for worldly gains, and never drew a breathe of peace whilst they lived. The Postscript included at the back of the novel was a delight to find, as it gives the impression of who the characters were in their real-life counterpart selves; the very ones who truly did live, breathe, and die.
The style of Brandy Purdy:
The Prologue is 26 pages long and serves as the opening sequence of The Boleyn Bride, giving you an intimate re-collective state of affairs as far as how Elizabeth views herself, her position, and the life she has lived thus far along. The pace and styling of the novel is quite a lovely change from the formulaic and traditional process of story-telling; this eludes to a more formalistic approach in how thoughts are spilt onto the page and how a person chooses to express themselves in narrative prose. The words arch over the emotional convictions, the palette of words and phrases empathsis the conditional state of Elizabeth’s mind as much as gives the narrative bits a clarity of melancholic repose.
Purdy takes her time to acknowledge not only her characters, but to give the reader a bit of an insight into where this particular story is going to take you. She lets you warm to Elizabeth for all her hallowing and beguiling ways, she has a likeability to her that is outside of her character faults which are laced with equal measure against the silhouette background of grief. She is not a woman who would leave her essence to be decided for her, as she’s writ as a character who not only takes charge of her affairs, but she directs everything that pertains to her particular being as well. She’s forthright to even a faulted degree, but there is something in her capacity to give you a reason to surge forward and seek out the passages outside of the obvious to find what makes her tick.
The appeal for me is the break from reading a novel I felt I might know a bit about its structure and soak inside a lighter reading full of beautiful and stark honest expressions.
Bookish Events by Brandy Purdy:
#TheRippersWifeBlogTour {tour route} Coming October/November 2014!
Previously she toured with HFVBT:
- #BoleynBrideTour {tour route}
#QueensRivalsTour {tour route}This book review is courtesy of the author Brandy Purdy:
I am thankful our paths crossed on her blog tour
for The Boleyn Bride which made this possible!
Upcoming next:
will be my review of “The Queen’s Rivals”!
Please visit my Bookish Events page to stay in the know for upcoming events!{SOURCES: Book covers for “The Boleyn Bride”, “The Queen’s Rivals”, and “The Ripper’s Wife”, Author Biography and Book Synopsis of the novels were provided by the author Brandy Purdy and used with permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Go Indie
Leave a Reply