Anne Boleyn is an ‘enigma’ whom writers ‘can’t resist the desire to solve’, writes Susan Bordo. ‘I have my own theories,’ she forewarns us, ‘and I won’t hide them.’ The result is a survey of Anne Boleyn’s life and afterlife that is alternately maddening, moving, disconcerting and exhilarating. 

Bordo is an American feminist academic, as open about her feelings as she is about her theories. Although biographers often fall in love with their subjects, it’s rare to have a writer admit to their crush. But Bordo not only does so, she adds that she has always been attracted