The Falcon Chronicles by Lauren Elflein
Posted By Claire on May 30, 2011
To reward myself for a very busy Saturday packing boxes (we’re having building work done on our house) and getting covered with dust, I spent Sunday afternoon and evening curled up on the sofa with “The Falcon Chronicles” by Lauren Elflein, a fictional account of Anne Boleyn’s life.
I wasn’t sure whether I was going to enjoy it at first as I was not sure about the style – just as the title suggests, it is written as a chronicle and has dated entries – but I quickly got over my uncertainty and relaxed into it. My husband and kids always know when I’m enjoying a book because I don’t budge off the sofa and I feel the need to read bits out to them! Well, this one had me me being a complete couch potato and Lauren’s account of Anne Boleyn’s execution and the epilogue had me in tears, much to everyone’s amusement!
It really is hard to please me with a book on Anne Boleyn because 1) I am very passionate about Anne, her story and the way that the Boleyn family have been depicted in novels and movies and 2) I can’t help but notice historical inaccuracies, but Lauren managed it. It was clear from her account of Anne’s life and the characters in the book that Lauren had done thorough research and was aiming to retell Anne’s story as accurately as possible. There was the odd mistake – Piers Butler being named as Anne’s potential bridegroom rather than his son, James – but I think that can be put down to a typo/confusion and it had no bearing on the story. Thankfully in the novel, there was no manipulative father, no bisexual/wife beater brother, no meddling and spiteful sister-in-law… and the Anne of the story was very human, she was not a saint or martyr but neither was she a sexual predator. The Anne of The Falcon Chronicles is a highly intelligent and passionate woman who stood out from the crowd and, when the King fell in love with her, she believed that it was God’s will for her to be Queen and so did all she could to make sure that the marriage went ahead. Anne is a well-rounded character – we see her intelligence, her close relationships with her father and brother, her faith and interest in Reform, her concern over the dissolution of the monasteries and how the money is being used, her relationship with the volatile and fickle King, her love for her daughter, her impatience, her fiery temper and her loose tongue, her horror at the events leading to her downfall and her understanding of her husband’s psyche and how things would end:-
” “Mr Kingston, shall I die without justice?”
“Even the poorest subject of the King hath justice.”
Anne nodded, unconvinced. Once Henry had determined his mind on something, he set out to accomplish it. He had meant to have her, he did. Now he meant to be rid of her, and so he would.” (p191)
The Anne of the novel is real and palpable and although she is not always likeable (who is?!) you can’t help being drawn to her. As I said, the ending moved me to tears which was an incredible feat seeing as the ending was, in fact, predictable! That shows you just how caught up I got in this book!
When we pick up an historical novel in a bookshop we just don’t know how an historical character is going to be portrayed, how close the story is going to be to history and what the balance is going to be regarding fact and fiction. I have no problem with historical fiction, I love it, but the novels that really appeal to me are the ones where the author has been inspired by the facts and then has filled in the blanks with events or characterization that fit the facts. The Falcon Chronicles is that kind of novel. Lauren writes in the Author’s Note:-
“I have attempted to stay as historically accurate as possible in all areas of this novel. However, owing to the fact that it is fiction, I have sought to edit the story where needed.”
Bravo, Lauren, I think you have succeeded in bringing Anne’s real story to life. Who needs to meddle with the story when it is gripping just as it is?
So, if you have a friend who has rather warped ideas about Anne Boleyn, perhaps after reading something like “The Other Boleyn Girl”, but you can’t quite persuade them to read Eric Ives’s biography of Anne then point them in the direction of “The Falcon Chronicles”, oh, and also The Anne Boleyn Files!!
Details
Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Publish America (March 25, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1456056565
ISBN-13: 978-1456056568
Click on the book cover above to order from Amazon.com or click here
The Falcon Chronicles is one I must read so thanks, Claire, for introducing me to this author, who sounds most lyrical.
Jeane Westin, The Spymaster’s Daughter, NAL/Penguin, August 2012
Claire, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your honesty and your kind words concerning my novel! You are a constant refreshing source of inspiration for Anne Boleyn and continue to reignite my love for her every time I visit your wonderful site! I am so happy that I could portray Anne’s story in a moving way – accomplishing that means I did my job correctly. So thank you very much for being apart of this with me!
I’m currently reading “Lady in the Tower” by Alison Weir. Would love to read Elflein’s book to get another look at the story. Sounds quite interesting.
Thanks for the review. If you liked it that much, I know I will enjoy reading it.
I wanted to like this book. It was mentioned on a Tudor site. I love books on the Tudors, especially when Anne Boleyn is the topic.
This book is almost unreadable. It’s dreadful. I’m almost halfway done and I don’t want to continue on reading it, it’s that bad. For instance:
- She smoothed her creamy skirts and slushed them around like froth.
- “The Pope has been captured by Charles! That prude! That strumpet! That peacock filled with vile detestable pride!”
Since when are men strumpets?
“She turned towards her father who lounged catlike, supine, stretched out in a lavish manner.”
Overuse of “traipsed” and “scampered,” at times used improperly.
Words are misused, even though the author appears to have an above-average vocabulary. The narration switches between past and present tense for no particular reason, and it is very jarring.
This is fan fiction from a vanity press evidently, not a professional book and it should NOT be sold as professional fiction on Amazon for $23.00.
The author, while to be commended for her effort in writing a novel, needs much more practice.
And I will now have to check publishers on Amazon, as evidently they consider vanity press books to be as worthy of purchase as professionally edited ones. They’re not.
Obviously everyone has their own point of view and thank you for sharing yours, I actually really enjoyed the book. I’ve never heard of PublishAmerica so would not be able to say whether it was Vanity Press, self-published or what, but many publishers are now using freelance copy-editors rather than in-house copy-editors – the very same copy-editors being used by those self-publishing. Times are changing because publishers are cutting costs. One book I was sent recently by a big name publisher had lots of typos, spelling mistakes and other mistakes, so published books are not immune. Another recent book (traditionally published) had three mistakes on the inside flap alone! I’m an ex teacher and have also done some editing so I’m often itching to get my teacher’s red pen out!
I don’t know Elflein personally so I wouldn’t be able to say how much copy-editing she had done, but copy-editing is an essential part of the publishing process.
I’m sorry you found it unreadable, what a shame.