The Beheading Game
A Novel
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The Beheading Game
Narrated by:
Florence Howard
Buy Now for £14.25
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Narrated by:
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Florence Howard
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By:
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Rebecca Lehmann
About this listen
We all know what happened to Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. But what if she woke up the day after her execution and took it upon herself to seek justice?
“Fabulous! A marvelously inventive and mythic reworking of the story of Anne Boleyn. I loved it.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Nobody was surprised at Anne’s conviction. The world loves to put a woman in her place.”
The Beheading Game begins in the hours after Anne Boleyn’s beheading, when she wakes to find herself unceremoniously laid to rest in a makeshift coffin, her head wrapped in linen at her knees. Discarded by King Henry VIII for being unable to give him a male heir and reviled by Cromwell for being too smart for her own good, she was ultimately executed based on trumped-up charges of adultery, incest, and high treason.
Anne escapes the Tower of London, sews her head back on, then sets out on a quest to kill Henry VIII before he can marry her own lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour. The stakes are high—if Jane gives birth to a rival heir, Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, will lose her claim to the throne. Traveling the streets of London in the guise of a commoner, with the help of a prostitute who becomes a trusted friend (and perhaps something more), Anne soon realizes how little she knew about life in the real world.
A fantastical journey through the wilds of England and Tudor history, filled with danger and magic and steeped in Arthurian legend, The Beheading Game is a prescient reminder that “mouthy” women have always been punished. Now, thanks to debut novelist Rebecca Lehmann, nearly five hundred years after Anne Boleyn’s death, one of history’s most maligned women finally has the chance to tell her story.
Critic reviews
“Anne Boleyn is dead; long live Anne Boleyn. In Lehmann’s playful revisionist history, Henry VIII’s second wife wakes up in a box after her execution, sews her head back on with a needle and thread and gets down to the business of assuring her daughter Elizabeth’s ascendance to the throne (or, if you want to put a finer point on it, revenge).”—The New York Times
“Half historical fiction, half ghost story, this [is a] jaw-dropping novel about Anne Boleyn. . . . Lehmann’s writing is as lovely as her imagination is over the top.”—Oprah Daily
“Truly bold.”—The Boston Globe
“A cracker of a novel—subtle, satisfying, and irresistibly inventive.”—Mail on Sunday
“[The Beheading Game] won me over with its inventiveness, its exuberance, and a portrayal of Anne and Henry’s marriage that is more nuanced than many a conventional telling.”—The Times
“Fabulous! A marvelously inventive and mythic reworking of the story of Anne Boleyn. I loved it.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Magic, romance, revenge, and an utterly irresistible heroine—this book is an instant classic.”—Lev Grossman, author of The Bright Sword
“The Beheading Game is magical on every level. I was gripped from the first page. Lehmann does more than imagine—she rewrites a fascinating piece of history and in doing so claims a future in which anything is possible.”—Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V.
“In The Beheading Game, Rebecca Lehmann’s fierce and audacious imagination soars, bringing us Anne Boleyn as we have never dared to see or imagine her before. Sister, mother, wife, avenger: In Lehmann’s brilliant hands, ferocious, feminist Anne turns from hunted to hunter, from disdained to loved, a transformation that is pure poetry.”—V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Brotherless Night and Love Marriage
“Lyrical and audacious, The Beheading Game pulls no punches in reimagining this well-known story. In turns vulnerable, furious, triumphant, and moving, I never wanted to let go of the deeply human Anne that Lehmann conjures.”—Kat Dunn, nationally bestselling author of Hungerstone
“This book is pure, stylish, audacious fun.”—Bibliolifestyle
“Brilliantly imagined, stylishly written, satisfyingly plotted, full of delicious surprises: all in all, hella fun.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Lehmann offers deep character work, portraying Anne’s early self-righteous naivete and discovery of her political savvy, and she successfully pairs a thrilling plot with a complex reflection on the limits of women’s power.”—Publishers Weekly
“Half historical fiction, half ghost story, this [is a] jaw-dropping novel about Anne Boleyn. . . . Lehmann’s writing is as lovely as her imagination is over the top.”—Oprah Daily
“Truly bold.”—The Boston Globe
“A cracker of a novel—subtle, satisfying, and irresistibly inventive.”—Mail on Sunday
“[The Beheading Game] won me over with its inventiveness, its exuberance, and a portrayal of Anne and Henry’s marriage that is more nuanced than many a conventional telling.”—The Times
“Fabulous! A marvelously inventive and mythic reworking of the story of Anne Boleyn. I loved it.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Magic, romance, revenge, and an utterly irresistible heroine—this book is an instant classic.”—Lev Grossman, author of The Bright Sword
“The Beheading Game is magical on every level. I was gripped from the first page. Lehmann does more than imagine—she rewrites a fascinating piece of history and in doing so claims a future in which anything is possible.”—Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V.
“In The Beheading Game, Rebecca Lehmann’s fierce and audacious imagination soars, bringing us Anne Boleyn as we have never dared to see or imagine her before. Sister, mother, wife, avenger: In Lehmann’s brilliant hands, ferocious, feminist Anne turns from hunted to hunter, from disdained to loved, a transformation that is pure poetry.”—V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Brotherless Night and Love Marriage
“Lyrical and audacious, The Beheading Game pulls no punches in reimagining this well-known story. In turns vulnerable, furious, triumphant, and moving, I never wanted to let go of the deeply human Anne that Lehmann conjures.”—Kat Dunn, nationally bestselling author of Hungerstone
“This book is pure, stylish, audacious fun.”—Bibliolifestyle
“Brilliantly imagined, stylishly written, satisfyingly plotted, full of delicious surprises: all in all, hella fun.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Lehmann offers deep character work, portraying Anne’s early self-righteous naivete and discovery of her political savvy, and she successfully pairs a thrilling plot with a complex reflection on the limits of women’s power.”—Publishers Weekly
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