The Autobiography of Henry VIII

The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers is a nice bit of historical fiction by Margaret George. The author makes an interesting point in the afterword of the novel - what we know about some historical figures is based on the writings of people who didn't really like them, including Henry VIII. Unless you've been watching the Tudors (see picture of Henry the hottie), your impression of Henry VIII is probably that he was a cruel (and very obese) man who was more interested in women than he was in ruling. This book is George's attempt to give Henry's side of the story.

The story begins with a series of letters between Somers and a daughter of Mary Boyeln (one of Henry's mistresses). When the king died, Somers took the kings' private journal and hid it away so that Henry's enemies would not take it and destroy it. As Somers is aging he has decided that the journal should go to this woman who was probably fathered by Henry. Somers also took it upon himself to add annotation along the way to provide further explanation, or sometimes just a different point of view. Henry's journal begins with memories of his childhood and continues until close to his death - Somers fills in the end.

George's version of Henry VIII is a ruler who wants to take care of his subjects, and who isn't lustful as much as he just wants to find true love (and a couple of heirs along the way). She by no means tries to make him perfect, she just shows more compassion for him then most biographers have.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, George tells a good tale. I actually found myself sympathyzing with the King at many points. From what I've learned about this period of time, George also does a really good job in regard to historical detail. This is a great book to read if you like history, but like to have a more human point of view rather than recitation of plain facts. I give this book 5 papal dispensations. The dogs skipped this one because they are too busy arguing Hillary vs. Obama. The cat loved this book because once again "her" lap did not move much over the weekend.