The Daily Telegraph

Gregory is great at conjuring a Tudor film-set of gorgeous gowns and golden-plattered dining. She invokes some swoonsome images: snows fall for a sennight, and wintry clouds lie "full-bellied"; love becomes serpentine, while the politics are personal enough to remain pertinent…The pages head in a flurry towards their conclusion - our heroine's usurpation by the ambitious Anne Boleyn.