Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Title: Mary Boleyn, Mistress of Kings Author:  Alison Weir Pub. Date: October 2011 Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Format: Hardcover , 400pp Synopsis: Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn, she was seduced by two kings and was an intimate player in one of history’s most gripping dramas. Yet much of what we know about Mary Boleyn has been fostered through garbled gossip, romantic fiction, and the misconceptions repeated by historians. Now, in her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first ever full-scale, in-depth biography of Henry VIII’s famous mistress, in which Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncovers the truth about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. With the same brand of extensive forensic research she brought to her acclaimed book The Lady in the Tower, Weir facilitates here a new portrayal of her subjects, revealing how Mary was treated by her am...

Watch the trailer for the world premiere of Anna Nicole, Mark-Anthony Turnage's new opera commissioned by the Royal Opera House. The trailer highlights some key moments in her provocative life. Please note the music in the trailer is not the music from the opera.  I really wanted to see this at Covent Garden but I missed it. The same people who did Jerry Springer, the Opera are involved in this production.  Perhaps the Metropolitan Opera House will pick it up!

I adore historical fiction, not just because I find history endlessly fascinating but because it leads me to fascinating women which I can then share with my readers. With Tasha Alexander’s new mystery, A Crimson Warning, I’ve discovered not one, but two fascinating and Scandalous Women. We’ve already met author Sarah Grand. This week, I introduce you to Valerie, Lady Meux. She was born Valerie Susie Langdon in 1847. According to what little I could find on her, she was a butcher’s daughter from Devon who worked as an actress before her marriage. According to her obituary in the New York Times, she met Sir Henry while performing in Brighton. However, tongues wagged at the time that she had worked under the name of Val Reece at the Casino de Venise in Holborn and that she may even have been a prostitute. It was reported in the magazine Truth (love the title) that she had even lived in sin with a Corporal Reece. In her defense, Valerie wrote, “I can very honestly say that my sins were...

I'm in the midst of reading Alison Weir's new biography of Mary Boleyn (which I will review once I've finished it).  While flipping through the photos in the middle of the book, I noticed a curious thing; how much Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard resemble each other, at least in their portraits. This is a portrait of Anne of Cleves, probably the same one that Henry VIII saw, that charmed him. Of course, we know from history that Henry felt that he had been duped when he finally met his new bride in the flesh, and discovered that she didn't exactly look like this portrait! This is a potrait that is assumed to be of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife and Anne Boleyn's cousin. If you look closely at the eyes, nose and mouth, they are remarkably similar in both paintings! Both portraits were painted by Hans Holbein the Younger, which probably explains why there is such a similarity in their looks.  Apparently Holbein wasn't as good at faces as he ...

Yesterday I went downtown to the Times Center to hear Philippa Gregory talk as part of The New York Times Great Literary Conversation. Her other panelists included Lee Child (author of the Jack Reacher novels which I now have to read), Rita Mae Brown (who has written a great historical fiction novel about Dolly Madison) and Sapphire, author of PUSH (made into the film 'Precious') and the sequel THE KID.  Although the other panelist were great, I really plunked down my $30 bucks to hear Philippa Gregory talk.  Which is crazy when you think about it because I could have just heard her speak for free at Barnes and Noble! Ladies and Gentleman, I think I'm in love! I was pretty harsh about her new book THE LADY OF THE RIVERS, and as I have stated before I loathe and despise THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. After hearing her speak, and discovering how witty and charming she is, I now have to continue to read her backlist (I've been wanting to read A RESPECTABLE TRADE for a long time ...

Title:   The Lady of the Rivers Publisher:   Touchstone Books Pub Date:   October 11, 2011 Synopsis: Passion. Danger. Witchcraft . . . The Lady of the Rivers is #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory’s remarkable story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, a woman who navigated a treacherous path through the battle lines in the Wars of the Roses. Descended from Melusina, the river goddess, Jacquetta always has had the gift of second sight. As a child visiting her uncle, she met his prisoner, Joan of Arc, and saw her own power reflected in the young woman accused of witchcraft. They share the mystery of the tarot card of the wheel of fortune before Joan is taken to a horrific death at the hands of the English rulers of France. Jacquetta understands the danger for a woman who dares to dream. Jacquetta is married to the Duke of Bedford, English regent of France, and he introduces her to a mysterious world of learning and alchemy. Her only friend in the great...

While reading Tasha Alexander’s magnificent new mystery A Crimson Warning , I came across a name I had never heard before, that of novelist Sarah Grand. Alexander’s heroine, Lady Emily Hargreaves is notorious for her taste in literature that was deemed unhealthy for women. As soon as I read the name, I had to know more about her. Her name is almost forgotten; yet one hundred years ago she was regarded as a woman of genius.  Today you won't find many of her books in the library, nor is she studied much in literature courses compared to the big guns of Victorian literature, Henry James, Anthony Trollope or Thomas Hardy. However, during her lifetime Sarah Grand was known for her radical ideas, daring style, and aggressive wit. She was also credited with coining the phrase, “The New Woman.” Sarah was born Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke in Ireland, on June 10 1854. Her parents were English; her father was a coastguard commander who lived in a spacious mansion called Roseban...

Cast: James McAvoy as Frederick Aiken Robin Wright as Mary Surratt Evan Rachel Wood as Anna Surratt John Simmons as John Surratt. Toby Kebbell as John Wilkes Booth Tom Wilkinson as Reverdy Johnson, Norman Reedus as Lewis Payne Kevin Kline as Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s secretary of war. Danny Huston as Joseph Holt, the prosecuting attorney. Stephen Root as John W. Lloyd Jonathan Groff as Louis Weichmann Colm Meaney as Maj. Gen. David Hunter Synopsis: In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, eight people are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) who was supposed to defend Mary asks his colleague, the newly-minted lawyer Frederic...