Thorns, Lust, and Glory: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn

A groundbreaking and beautifully written biography of Queen Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated second wife of Renaissance England’s Henry XVIII, focusing on her transformative years in France and how they shaped her into one of history’s most notoriously vilified and misunderstood queens

Anne Boleyn has mesmerized the general public for centuries. Her tragic execution at the Tower of London on the 19th of May, 1536--orchestrated by her own husband--never ceases to intrigue. How did this courtier’s daughter become the queen of England, and what was it that really tore apart this illustrious marriage, rendering her the whore of England, an abandoned woman left to be executed on the scaffold? While many stories of Anne’s downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her grim fate.

In Thorns, Lust, and Glory, Estelle Paranque takes us back to where it all started: to France, where Anne learned the lessons that would set her on the path to becoming one of England’s most infamous queens. At the court of the French king as a resourceful teenage girl, Anne’s journey to infamy began, and this landmark biography explores the world that shaped her, and how these loyalties would leave her vulnerable, leading to her ruin at the volatile court of Henry VIII.

A fascinating new perspective on Tudor history’s most enduring story, Thorns, Lust, and Glory is an unmissable account of a queen on the edge.

DR. ESTELLE PARANQUE is an Associate Professor in History at NCH at Northeastern (London campus) and the co-convenor of the Tudor and Stuart Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research. She has been featured in several international historical television documentaries, including The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family and Secrets d’Histoire, as well as the history podcasts like HistoryHit, Not Just the Tudors, and Talking Tudors. She is also the author of Blood, Fire, & Gold: The Story of Elizabeth I & Catherine de Medici and Elizabeth I of England Through Valois Eyes.