C. W. Gortner reviews DEAR HEART, HOW LIKE YOU THIS?
© C. W. Gortner
By turns wildly romantic and imbued with poetic melancholia, Dunn's assured prose brings to life the charismatic Wyatt, depicting through his eyes Anne Boleyn's transformation from a spirited child to wronged woman bent on exacting vengeance from a heartless king, and a queen tormented by her own ambitions, until her final horrifying hour on Tower green - an hour that destroys Wyatt's innocence forever.
Dunn depicts Anne, and her brother George, as warm-hearted, intelligent persons, confidants in a triptych that includes Wyatt. Each in their own way is caught up in Henry VIII's brutal machinations, but it is Wyatt who truly captures the imagination: a man with an abiding curiosity in the world around him, who cannot help but bear witness to the Boleyns dizzying rise and terrifying fall, even as he, too, is swept up in events beyond his control. His own faithless alliance with an adulterous wife; his love for a father succumbing to a relentless illness; his ambivalence toward his children; and his self-doubts as to his ultimate importance in a society overturned by the tumult of the Reformation underpin this tender story that dares to ask the question: What does it mean to love?
Though framed as an account of arguably the most famous of Henry VIII's six wives, DEAR HEART, HOW LIKE YOU THIS? is far more than another re-telling of a well-trodden tale. For entwined with the glamorous, ultimately tragic, story of Anne Boleyn's life and death, is that of an inherently good man's struggle with the evils of his time, and of the toll that is often exacted of those who finds themselves immersed in the sweeping tides of historical change.
About C.W.Gortner: Christopher (C.W.) Gortner holds a MA in History and a MFA in Writing, with an emphasis on Renaissance History. A life-long historian, he has taught seminars on the 16th century at various educational institutions, including the New College of California. He resides in San Francisco, California. To learn more about him and
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