The Grandmother's Tale by Alison Weir

The Grandmother's Tale is an e-short and companion piece to Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession, the second novel in the Six Tudor Queens series.

I see her from time to time, and I wish I didn't, but I don't say that. Nor do I tell my guests of my awful gift, or of how I kept seeing a sword over her head . . . Thomas once called me a witch. But witches practise their craft willingly. My visions come unbidden, and I have never been able to control them.

As Anne Boleyn's grandmother mourns the death of her granddaughter, she also mourns the loss of Hever as she once knew it - filled with the joy and happiness of her family.

With Anne's ghost still walking the halls, Margaret remembers her life in this grand house and the mysteries and rumours that line its walls. But with everything changed for ever, how long will Hever remain her home?

Features the first chapter of Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession and Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen.

SIX TUDOR QUEENS. SIX NOVELS. SIX YEARS.

Kindle Edition, 57 pages

Published March 8, 2018

 by Review

3.5/5 stars

I’ve read a lot about Anne Boleyn and her family over the years, but can't remember a time hearing about her grandmother. So this little e-short was a welcome change of point of view.

The story belongs to Margaret Butler Boleyn, mother of Thomas Boleyn and grandmother to Anne. Now elderly and living out her final years at Hever Castle, she looks back over her life: the family she watched grow up there, the visions that have troubled her and the loneliness that has settled in now that so much has been lost.

It’s a quiet, reflective story rather than a dramatic one and that suits it. Seeing the Boleyns through the eyes of the family matriarch, someone usually left out of the story, gave me a fresh angle on people I thought I knew well. Weir is a historian first, her feel for the period comes through even in so few pages.

Being so short, it only skims the surface. I’d have happily spent more time with Margaret. Still, if you’re a Tudor fan looking for a different perspective on the Boleyns, it’s a worthwhile quick read.

My copy obtained through Amazon UK.