She awoke in a wooden box, her body wrapped in linen bandages, and her severed head between her legs. Seems Anne Boleyn, recently decapitated, was not worthy of a timely burial. But however she merited a second chance at life, she was going to take it. Leaving The Tower of London in the middle of the night, Ann found a skiff and floated down the Thames to Southwark in lower London. The first thing she needed was to replace her head back onto her body. Luckily, while everyone slept, she found a sewing kit in a house by the river and managed to sew it back on. Then she had to figure out how to survive in a chaotic world with no money, no fawning courtiers, and public opinion still mostly against her. Even though very dead, she was still Henry's hated queen who committed treason, fornicated with court staff, and incest with her own brother-what would happen to her if she was re-captured and brought back to the Tower? Even with such danger, Anne knew she had to return to the palace and stop Henry from marrying Jane Seymour, one of her ladies-in-waiting. If the king and Jane had a son, it would doom her daughter Elizabeth's chances of succession, and she had to risk her second life for that. After realizing what Henry did to her, his steadfast, loving, virtuous queen, she knew he had to be stopped-Anne Boleyn was out for revenge, and Henry should fear for his own royal head.
For a novel, The Beheading Game is something very different-historical fiction with a whisper of fantasy. It is not a mash-up of two genres, but only a device to get Anne back in the murderous game of royal power at the Tudor court. The reader is given a thorough history lesson on Anne's upbringing, her intellect, which Henry first admired, then scorned, and the way she helped shape the Reformation and establishment of the Church of England. As Anne takes advantage of her new opportunity for vengeance, the author presents factual information while proposing how women might have coped with the restrictions of their sex, leaving the reader room to speculate how accurate this might have been. After reading the book, I suggest seeing a production of Six-Divorced Beheaded Died Divorced Beheaded Survived.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
March 24, 2026
Reserve a physical copy - Coming soon
No comments:
Post a Comment