She's a bit too wide-eyed and innocent to exist in such a time, but I had no major issues with her as a character.
Madge herself is a decent sort of main character, my issues with her incongruent shyness/mousiness aside. I simply didn't buy that anyone from the grasping, upward-climbing Boleyns could be that innocent at Court, especially once under the direct nefarious influence of Thomas Boleyn, Lord of Wiltshire and the Queen's father. For one thing: Madge was the daughter of Anne Shelton (née Anne Boleyn), which made her the Queen's first cousin - a position to be used for much power and influence by using many courtiers/controlling access to the Queen/etc. My problem was that I just, well, didn't buy into the earlier naivete of her character. Her innocence is distinct and causes Madge to have a bit of notoriety attached to her name. I can understand why the author chose to portray Madge so uniquely among her time and place: it's easier to root for Madge before she becomes entwined in the conspiracies and gossip of the court. Madge, unlike her contemporary peers and compatriots, doesn't like the decadent Court of Henry and Anne or its frivolities. Madge is brought to Henry VIII's Court at the young age of 15. The anticipation of reading from a usually ignored/unknown perspective (historians aren't even sure if Margaret Shelton was one person or an amalgam of two Tudor-era courtiers named Mary and Margaret Shelton) had me eager to get my hands on this, but the actual narration and novel itself had me itching for the final page long before I hit the halfway mark. This is the story of Madge Shelton narrating the final three years of her cousin Anne Boleyn's reign as Queen of England - an intriguing and fresh approach for such a popular time and people.
The dialogue, the characters, the historical anachronisms - all were just too much to handle or were just handled wrong.
Perhaps "I wish this had just been better" would be closer to the mark with how I feel regarding this novel. For all its attempts to do something new within the uber-popular Tudor-prevalent historical fiction genre, this is a totally unmemorable effort. "I wish I'd liked this more" were my first thoughts upon finishing, and being incredibly disappointed by, this Tudor-era historical fiction. Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!
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