Very clear. Nicely written.

I wonder about your last sentence, though--do you want to end on a reference to Anne of Cleves? I only ask because I don't think most people will instantly know that name. Is it possible to work in a reference to Henry VIII?

connie, yup - Holbein flattered her a little too much, and neglected to paint in extensive pox scars. But Henry apparently quite liked her - just didn't want her, luckily for her, since she lived to a ripe old age.

Kristin, I keep forgetting, that "recite the names of Henry's wives in chronological order" was a school exercise where I grew up, not where most Americans grow up. You're quite right - I can easily change that last line to read something like "...to the hidden letters of a confidant of Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII."

But this is a very rough synopsis. I'm still playing, not only with the synopsis, but with the idea.

I'm just loving Ringan - who resents the entire thing so much, and is always so scared for Penny's sake - being the vulnerable one.

Well the idea rocks. I can't wait to read it.

t taps foot

t looks at watch

Deb's going to beam the entire book to your watch? NEAT!

I thought it was a marriage by proxy before Anne even got to England.

I thought it was a marriage by proxy before Anne even got to England.

It was. But the ceremony - the official state wedding party - would have gone on for some time, even though Henry said, no way am I shagging this one. And the wedding party - planned well in advance - would have included two things that led to the tragedy of the song: visits from afar (in this instance, some Scots or border country nobles, I'm thinking the Percys or close approximation), and hunting trips on the Isle of Dogs.

Oh, my. Must brush up on Tudors. I'm more familiar with them as an old Jacobean/Elizabethan drama and lit second-major than as a historian; they begin just after my particular era of expertise ends.

Le sigh. I suppose I can't put all the stories between 1066 and the Battle of Bosworth...

Sounds fascinating to me.

Susan, I just love the idea of some impoverished English noblewoman, being shunted off as companion to the discarded queen (she ended up at Hever Palace, I think, and Henry got into the habit of hanging out with her, once he discovered that he quite liked her personally), keeping these gossipy little notes on a murder, and all the behind the scenes stuff.

Seriously. Kind of an anti-Thomas More.

Tudors are fun.

Tudors are fun.

So I'm told, but I was never able to see it. Henry VII, dried-up stick and very probably the murderer of his nephews, the Princes in the Tower. Henry VIII, yes, well, we know what a syphillitic monastery-looting "I want nookie so I'm a-gonna found a new church!" wife-abandoning and -beheading freakazoid he was. Bloody Mary, um, no. Elizabeth was interesting, but really, Virgin Queen my ass.

What can I tell you, I'm a Plantagenet woman.