Today, Clare and I are popping over to Northern Ireland to visit Gareth Russell at his blog, Confessions of a Ci-Devant. It was postponed a day because Gareth was having computer problems yesterday – sorry! There, we share an article about George Boleyn’s execution and his scaffold speech. Thank you to Gareth for being such a kind host.
This is your final chance to win a copy of George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat, so do head over to Gareth’s blog – click here – and follow the instructions.
Clare and I would just like to take the opportunity to thank Sarah, Olga, Barb, Susan, Beth, Tamise, Natalie, Bridgett, Lara, Emma & Darren, and Gareth for allowing us to visit their blogs, it’s been such an honour and we appreciate the support. Thank you also to all those who have travelled with us on our virtual book tour, it means so much to read your comments and to receive such encouragement. We hope you enjoyed all the interviews and articles.
Thank you very much for the extract; it was a pleasure to host the final day of the tour and I curse the storms that toppled Internet access along the picturesque “golden coastline” of North Down. A wonderful book and a great excerpt.
How bad were the storms? Did they cause much damage?
Gareth, we had some of your storm on Saturday morning. Horrendous thunder!
I have really enjoyed the book tour Ladies, you have given a good insight into George, the book and yourselves too. I can’t wait to read it.
It amazed me how many sites there are out there about the Tudors.
Good luck to all those that are hoping to win the give-away copies… 🙂
Clare and Claire,
It took me a bit longer than usual to finish your fine book, “George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat.” This was not due to interruptions or loss of interest – actually, the opposite.
There is a phenomena that I (probably others) experience when I watch news video of events on the par with the second Tower going down on 11 September, 2001. I’m filled with dread and an illogical wish to dial back the action.
That’s never happened to me while reading a book, though – until yours. At about 70% finished with it, I realised I was avoiding reading more than a page or two at a time, and I’d put it down, not recognising that my illogical wish-feelings were kicking in.
That’s a very high compliment, and I hope I’ve explained it so that it’s not confusing.
At the very end, when I finally (re-)read Thomas Wyatt the Elder’s, ‘V. Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me inimici mei,’ my breath caught in my throat at, “These bloody days have broken my heart,” in a way that hadn’t happened quite so sharply ever before.
So – thank you. I don’t think I’m going too far to say that I believe the spirit of the very proud and talented George Boleyn would thank you as well, for your historical digging, and your pulling him out of the shadow of history into the amazing, sometimes cyber-lit spotlight of the twenty-first century – where we get to meet him as a man, instead of a tragic footnote.
— Mary M.
Larkspur, California US
Wow, thank you, it’s so good to hear that our book affected you in that way. Every step of the way we wanted to be true to George and not fill in the blanks too much with our theories, but to let the historical sources do the talking. We really felt it was about time that George came out of Anne’s shadow and that his incredible life and career could be recognised. Thank you!