I had to think a lot about what I could do for this week, because the most self-evident answer to the prompt was too obvious. Here’s the prompt for this week:
Week 3 (11/11-11/15) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or (because I’m doing this myself) two books on two different areas have chimed and have a link. You can be as creative as you like! (Liz)
Maybe this pairing is obvious, too, but it didn’t immediately come to mind. Here it is, though. I recently finished the history/biography Hunting the Falcon: Henry VII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe by John Guy and Julia Fox. This account begins when both figures are younger, with Henry becoming king and Anne first going to the French court. But it concentrates on the years of their relationship and marriage, including the fallout from Henry’s divorce of Katherine.
I’m actually pairing this nonfiction book with three fiction books that concentrate on the same subject matter, and they, of course, are well known. I meant Hilary Mantel’s outstanding trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. The trilogy begins with Wolf Hall, in which Cromwell helps Henry with his divorce from Katherine so he can marry Anne. It continues with Bring Up the Bodies, in which Cromwell eventually helps ruin Anne after she fails to produce a son and Henry sets his eyes on Jane Seymour. Finally, it ends in The Mirror and the Light, which begins with the beheading of Anne.
Whether you’re interested in the nonfiction or the fiction books, you’ll be entertained, but the trilogy happens in my opinion to be a set of top historical fiction books.
What? Me Read? 
I love reading about the Tudors, and I have heard such good things about the Wolf Hall Trilogy, but I’m always nervous about reading historical fiction – I don’t want the facts and the fiction to get mixed up in my head! Hunting the Falcon sounds very interesting.
Except for her guesses about the personalities of the characters and their private lives, I think Mantel sticks to the facts pretty well.
That’s a great pairing. I love the Wolf Hall trilogy, particularly the first two books. I haven’t read Hunting the Falcon, although I’ve read one of John Guy’s other books about the Tudors.
I hadn’t heard of Guy before, but I have had a couple comments from people who enjoyed other books by him.
I’ve read the first two Mantel books but so long ago that I would likely need to revisit them to read the third. The nonfic title is new to me though and looks very interesting–the only nonfic I’ve read on Henry and Anne Boleyn is the Alison Weir Six Wives of Henry VIII.
This one is much more readable than Weir’s, although I enjoyed Weir’s, too.
Great work, thank you for taking part! The traditional idea of a nonfiction book with historical fiction is one that usually eludes me, so it’s good to have some examples around the blogosphere!
Thanks!
I’ve still not got round to reading The Mirror and the Light, despite loving the earlier books. One day!
If you don’t do it soon, you’ll have to read them all over again!
Haha, that’s part of the problem!
I always like the nonfiction better than the historical fiction.
I tend more the other way.
The Tudors seem to never fall out of people’s interest. They are a fascinating crowd. I have read Mantel’s two first novels, and will read the third. Excellent writing and the story of Cromwell is fascinating. Good pairing.
Thanks!