A groundbreaking, freshly researched examination of one of the most dramatic and consequential marriages in history: Henry VIII’s long courtship of, short union with, and brutal execution of Anne Boleyn.

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

Hunting the Falcon is the story of how Henry VIII’s obsessive desire for Anne Boleyn changed him and his country forever. John Guy and Julia Fox, two of the most acclaimed and distinguished historians of this period, present Anne and Henry in startlingly new ways. By closely examining the most recent archival discoveries and peeling back layers of historical myth, misinterpretation, and distortion, Guy and Fox are able to set Anne and Henry’s tragic relationship against the major international events of the time, and integrate and reinterpret sources that were hidden in plain sight.

Hunting the Falcon sets the facts—and some completely new finds—into a far wider frame, providing an appreciation of this misunderstood and underestimated woman. It dispels lingering and latently misogynistic assumptions about Anne, explores how she organized her “side” of the royal court on novel and (in male eyes) subversive lines, and how the methods by which she gained much of her political intelligence and extended her authority, also sowed the seeds of her downfall.

An exhilarating feat of historical research and analysis, Hunting the Falcon is also a thrilling and tragic story of a marriage that has held enduring fascination over the centuries as it retells this legendary story as if for the first time.