We have all of Martin's books. My problem with your argument (which is a friendly one!) is you are assuming Weir writes romance novels when she doesn't. You said, "Who could possibly have come up with a fictional version of a 16th century king's life that would equal the facts of Henry VIII's?!" That kind of bit because that's not how Weir writes. Mantel also writes historical fiction. Does that mean Wolf Hall is a romance novel? No. Have you read any of Weir's non-fiction? She stays with fact and questions a lot of theories, because nobody really knows the dialogue back then, but both authors make up their own dialog & speculate in order to tell story. Weir may not have an academic background but that doesn't mean she's not a historian. She is labeled a Historian by others. I'm aware she's said she writes popular history, but that doesn't negate the fact she telling us what happened back then. Anyway, enough with "My author is better than your author." LOL. Lynn, when I'm reading I keep my iPad next to me so I can look up names and places. I keep Google Earth on England. :) In highschool one of my "dead" classes was being Library Assistant, and the Librarian is the one who turned me onto Holt. Which led to the Tudor era. BTW, did you see Hever Castle on G.E.?

>oh great-I've got tons of real and grad work to do and now I have to go look this up! Hee, been there, done that on more than one occassion (but whats more fun?) Yep, forgot that part (its been ages since I read it) so I conflated those two (ironic that we are talking about accuracy here :) Thanks for the correction. I do remember the four of them were quite close. Very good book for anyone interested in the time period. >I fear that history is often fiction with longevity I like that line, and am afraid you might be right. Happens throughout history. If a Roman emperor newly crowned wanted to erase his predessesor from history, he commanded that any building or monument with his name on it be chiseled away. Certainly the Soviet Union was doing some major touching up of photos and articles. And we have our own misinformation currently in progress. And since history is usually written by the victors, it should be expected, and questioned. The problem is that we usually don't know when we are looking at it. So the question above is still a very good one: how do we know what is accurate? What are the clues to something that is either playing around with the facts or an outright lie? How much searching does one need to do to be sure, and what happens when so many primary sources conflict? (Chris, this is why I'd love to be a researcher. My problem is I'd start from one point, and then my search would lead me into five different directions. This caused many problems during my grad school years...)

Cindy, I saw the new film on Queen Eliz. I and actually liked it, in its way. (I commented on it over on the Cinema Forum here). POSSIBLE SPOILERS: As I wrote, I liked the historical presence of Bess Throckmorton and Walter Raleigh, as well as Dr. John Dee, astrologer and advisor to Eliz. I found the scene with the huge Spanish Armada approaching the tiny island of Britain awesome. In general, I thought the film captured accurately the paranoia of the times, and the secretive court intrigues, layer upon layer of subterfuge. The scene with Eliz. ralleying her countrymen upon horseback in armour I found quite moving. Why did you not like it as well as the first film???

I've spent a lot of time with Louisa May Alcott. Her backstory is so fascinating - as are many people of her era - & the era itself. Another that really captured me was Henriette Deluzy-Desportes. After seeing the Bette Davis/Charles Boyer movie, "All This And Heaven Too", I had to get the book to read (which chronicled so much more of her life) & then became interested in its author, Rachel Field, who also had a very interesting backstory, being related to Henriette through the man she ultimately married. Her introduction to that book describes how she grew up picnicking amongst the tombstones of her new England ancestors & how it inspired her to research & write about this mysterious woman. Henriette Deluzy-Desportes