Hunting the Falcon

“A fierce, scholarly tour-de-force. The authors, a husband-and-wife historian team, are a dream pairing. There is an intensity to their research–the sleuthing through water-damaged documents hiding in musty collections; the reinterpreted ciphers and signatures in Tudor missives singed by fire; the telling marginalia in manuscripts and folios; the pithy asides from courtiers in disregarded journals… . Hunting the Falcon brilliantly shows how time, circumstance and politics combined to accelerate Anne’s triumph and tragedy.” – Tina Brown, The New York Times Book Review

“Compelling, absorbing … . a wonderfully rich book, thoroughly researched, with a wealth of detail and a fair-minded approach to its story.” – Wall Street Journal

“Better than Wolf Hall because it’s all true. The authors’ extraordinary scholarship in every possible historical source, as well as the vibrancy of their writing, delivers the seemingly impossible: a genuinely fresh interpretation of the marriage that produced Protestant England and the greatest of all the British monarchs, Elizabeth I. With a paranoiac court where mild flirtation could lead to torture and disembowelment, the story still has the power to shock: Henry Tudor meets Joseph Stalin. Anne Boleyn was a strong independent woman, and paid an horrific price for it.” – Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

“The vivacious Anne Boleyn comes alive in this impressive study… . Combines meticulously researched history with contemporary voices and narrative flair. The approach is fresh.” – The Times (UK)

“A sumptuous drama of lust, intrigue, and betrayal, underpinned by the harsh reality of politics.” – Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

“An intriguing, thought-provoking, extensively researched look at the marriage that impacted and changed history. Readers interested in the history of the Tudors will be especially drawn to this book.” – Library Journal

“The book is thoroughly researched, up-to-date and scrupulous in providing answers to matters of debate… Anyone interested in the facts behind the numerous fictional riffs on the Henrican court could not do better than to read this work.” – Times Literary Supplement (UK)

“The shelves are piled high with books about Anne Boleyn, so do Guy and Fox–appropriately, a husband and wife team–have anything to add? The answer is that they unquestionably do. Their book provides the most cogent narrative reading of the evidence to date. It leaves us in no doubt of the momentous consequences of Henry’s pursuit of Anne Boleyn.” – The Spectator

“The authors offer more nuance than the traditional view of Anne … . A tragic historical tale delineated with admirable elucidation.” – Kirkus Reviews

“The authors’ research is some of the finest out there.” – Sunday Telegraph

“This book is at once an education and a joy to read.” – Literary Review

“The book is executed with consummate skill. As an exercise in storytelling, it is a formidable achievement…. Hunting the Falcon is a splendid read, a remarkably well-told account of the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn.” – George W. Bernard, History Today

John Guy is an award-winning historian; an accomplished broadcaster; a fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge; and the author of Mary Queen of Scots, which won the Whitbread Award for Biography and the Marsh Biography Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for Biography. He has contributed to numerous BBC programs and has written for the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, the Economist, the Literary Review, the Times Literary Supplement, and the London Review of Books.

Julia Fox taught history in state and private schools and is the author of Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford and Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile.