I was reminded tonight of having read this book and it made me think about what it was that I liked about it. This tells of a different time period in Anne Boleyn's life, from when she is a little 9 year old girl and going over to the French court with her sister Mary, and finishes upon her return to England years later. Their father is as manipulative and power hungry as he was in the tv series, with not much middle ground. Maxwell has Mary as the bed hopping sister with Anne learning from givi [...]

Excellent! In a word, that's it, excellent. A very interesting viewpoint of the early years of one of British history's most misunderstood figures. Anne Boleyn is typically written off as a royal bimbo (more aptly that would be Catherine Howard) or worse, a royal maneater (ala Catherine the Great, but with less power). Truthfully, my take on Anne is that she was more modern than the times could allow and her power was only destroyed thru a rewrite of who she actually was. She had the misfortune [...]

Caution to anyone who does not like to read raunchy books. Some sections made me blush! However, as anyone familiar with the Rennaissance court of Francois I knows, Francois got around. Further, women at that time period were used as pawns to advance the power of their families. Thus, while the virtual prostitution of Mary Boleyn is shocking for modern tastes, ambitious parents would often push their (young and presumably unwilling) daughters into the beds of kings. While there is no historical [...]

Anyone who is truly interested in Anne Boleyn will want to read this book, and I think be pleasantly surprised. Even enthusiasts of Boleyn or the Tudor period might want to consider Maxwell's take. The novel is a coming of age story that examines Anne's early life at about nine years old and her time in the Netherlands and then when her father, Thomas Boleyn sent her and elder sister Mary to the French court. Everything about this book was fascinating, especially as it was written in first perso [...]

This novel showcases an intriguing snapshot of Anne's life, namely her largely unexplored childhood. While the plot and incidents are engaging enough ,in my opinion, to make for a worthwhile read,you would think that any story focusing on her childhood would point out how she became the calculating schemer she revealed herself to be in England. However,it is as if the novel assumes this part of her personality to be a spontaneous eruption. Throughought the duration,she is portrayed as a rather m [...]

This book did it. I have fallen helplessly in love with Robin Maxwell and her delightfully delicious historical fiction.I just happened upon her "Jane" novel when browsing a local bookshop, and while I initially purchased the book for its subject matter, I found myself back at the bookstore looking for her other titles because I so much enjoyed her style and unique voice.Fortunately, I was not disappointed, and both purchases have brought me nothing but satisfaction.I enjoy her light touch, whic [...]

This was an enjoyable read, entertaining, well written, with a large cast of supporting characters I really liked. (Poor Mary Boleyn, I felt for her the most.) The history was well done, and it was interesting to look at the time period from a different direction. The only drawback was Anne herself. When you tell a story in first person POV, that person has to be present at all the important events; I don't mind that at all. But Anne's special-ness was laid on a little thick: every royal person [...]

I really liked this book; Anne was portrayed in a positive light (for once), and accurate or not, it was sort of refreshing.My knowledge of the Tudors is embarrassingly limited, I'm afraid; when I read fiction based on historical fact, I never know what's fact and what isn't I end up taking EVERYTHING with a grain of salt. I DO know that no one, famous or not, is all bad or all good; with that in mind, this book was a nice counter to all the negative portrayals about her I've read recently.Ugh, [...]

Robin Maxwell considers her Mademoiselle Boleyn to be a prequel to her previous (rather excellent) works as it tells of Anne’s youth (before she rather fatally catches the eye of the lecherous King Henry IVIII, much of it spent in the French court of King Francois and Queen Claude (daughter of King Louis XII). She befriends Leonardo da Vinci (not mentioned in the history books but imagined, i suppose reasonably, by Maxwell). It's been quite some time since i read her earlier works and, memory [...]

I have read so many books on Anne Boleyn over the last few years that you'd think I'd have exhausted all of the possible plots by now. I did fear as much but was pleasantly surprised by Robin Maxwell's take on this popular character in Mademoiselle Boleyn.Mademoiselle Boleyn is a novel that chooses to explore Anne's earlier life rather than the life we all know; the rise and subsequent decline of Queen Anne of England. A majority of the novel takes place in France during the early 1500's as Anne [...]

This was a nice story set in Anne's childhood in the French court. I might have given it 5 stars, but at the end there was a Q&A with the author in which she complains about another book by a different author. ("One book actually claimed that a male child born to Mary, fathered by Henry while she was his mistress, was stolen by Anne and brought up by her at court as her own. That Anne brought up her sister's son at court, claiming it as Henry's and hers, is as far as I know, entirely fictiti [...]

As someone who has read a lot of medieval history books, both fiction and nonfiction, I found this book a little hard to swallow. Anne Boleyn has gotten a very unfair shake in history, but I doubt sincerely she was EVER as naive as she was purported to be in this book. I found the scenes between her and some of the other characters to be cloyingly sweet and silly, and I think the alleged friendship between her and Leonardo daVinci to be totally over-the-top. Not really sure I would recommend thi [...]

Ahhhhh! Another book about Anne. *sigh* I enjoyed learning about her early years in France. What a smart girl that was full of life and potential.What an eye opener on how women were nothing but pawns in a mans world. That to them, you were just something to be used for either sexual pleasure or for child bearing. Anne's sister, Mary, had beauty for and against her. It was like she was put in to sex slavery by her father, then the King of France. Just when finally things were happy for her, King [...]

This is a time period I really love. All of the court conspiracies, the underlying strive for power at a time when women had very little recognized authority, all the behind the scenes machinations etc. Truly intriguing.I admire the author's ability to portray Anne as a much more sympathetic character rather than the typical villification of her. I found this book a fascinating read and was really disappointed at the abrupt end.

3.5★

I loved how this book mainly brings you through Anne's younger years, starting at I believe the age is 9 when she is sent to live at the French court with her sister Mary up until the age of 16 or 17 when she is to leave & head back to England.I thought the author did a really excellent job at bringing out Anne's character. Even though she is young, Anne is very clever & learns quickly. She really starts to see the BIG PICTURE of her surroundings along with a little help from Queen Claud [...]

**Please note, these "reviews" are really more of memory-joggers for me and, as such, will unlikely be of benefit to others. **99% fiction 1% historical. Only historical in the names of a key characters (e.g. Anne, Mary, the monarchs, Leonardo daVinci), a place or two, and a few vague but well-established facts (e.g. Anne Boleyn spent time at the French court (dates uncertain)); other than mentioning it happened, there are no specific events with specific dates provided (such as a birth, death o [...]

I am not much a book reviewer, but I bough this on audio-book and I didn't really enjoy it. Obviously, many people have enjoyed it, so I make no claims to be an authority. I can only state that I found it not very compelling and unbelievable. First, i found the characters of the french court to be flat and one-dimensional and I didn't really get a good feeling for them. I found some of the naivete of Anne Boleyn unbelievable, including some of her interactions with laundresses, etc I found the i [...]

This was a new perspective on Anne Boleyn’s life, of her early years and education (academic and sexual) at the French court. I was fascinated with the French royalty, as I had not known much about them prior to reading this. Having read Phillipa Gregory’s books, this novel was a great addition to the world of the Tudors I had built in my head, but with the viewpoint of the French. It does get a bit raunchy at times, but what else would you expect from the French court?

I couldn't get enough of this book! This book was a joy to read with a great blend of humor, coming of age, palace intrigue, tragedy and was at times down right shocking. A romp through the French / English court of the time period and one that I'll never forget. I am on the hunt for more books from this author.

I have read other books by this author & this one was by far her worst. She clearly felt the need to release her vulgarity into this one. Anne Boleyn was not even remotely as clever as she thought she was and the character itself was unbelievable. Glad it was only 324 pages, very disappointing.

Although it didn't pull me I as quickly as a Phillipa Gregory book does, I ultimately couldn't put it down and read the majority of it in a day. An enjoyable read of Anne's life as a young girl at the French court.

Could not put it down. I'd read about Anne Boleyn before but this book covers her early years before her and King Henry were together. Wonderful read!!!

Interesting viewpointI enjoyed this taking place in the French court

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written, exhibiting a fascinating cast of historical characters.

Grade / Rating: 4.5 stars / B+Disclaimer: I am not a professional reviewer, nor was I solicited for this review. I purchased my e-copy of "Mademoiselle Boleyn" from the Sony ebookstore sometime between 2008 and 2010.Spoiler Warning: My reviews usually contain spoilers. I try to label them whenever possible. I'm an unusual Anne Boleyn fan in the sense I like her, but I like her with my eyes wide open. True-blue groupies tend to venerate her as a feminist and a religious reformer. I see her as a s [...]

Mademoiselle Boleyn is Robin Maxwell’s follow up to her debut novel, The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn. Once again, Maxwell gives the reader an innovative, imaginative while plausible account of Anne Boleyn’s youth during her service at the French court. It was refreshing to delve into this period of Anne’s life that has been mostly overlooked. Certainly these were Anne’s, like most young girl’s, formative years and I believe that Anne’s personality was greatly shaped by her time in Fr [...]

Awful. Awful. Awful.And it's too bad because it could have been good. I mean, Anne Boleyn's time with the French court? Instead, though, it was some crazy soft porn erotica story that I refused to finish.

Read this review and others like it at my blog Brains and Beauty.This book amazing! I seriously did not want to put it down, but I also didn’t want it end. The great part of this book is that it explores a part of Anne Boleyn’s childhood that is not usually talked about. The author does a great job of imagining the French court during Francois I’s reign and I found myself spellbound within this world. As well as creating as magical setting, she also manages to make Anne human and likeable. [...]

Reading Tudors fiction is like trying new food: you never know if you're going to like it or not. Well, in the case of Robin Maxwell's "Mademoiselle Boleyn," I liked it very much. Maxwell, who had previously written the wonderful "Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn," which focused on Anne's courtship with Henry VIII and last days in the Tower of London, chooses to write about a little known period of Anne's life- her days at the court of France, first serving Queen Mary Tudor, then Queen Claude. The st [...]