Have you ever met someone who seemed familiar though you’re sure you’ve not met the person before? Or have you come across a person you immediately disliked and can’t explain why? Nell Gavin’s book, Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn may just have an answer to that.
Threads begins with Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536 and her furious sense of betrayal by her husband, the notorious Henry VIII. As Henry’s second wife, she was executed on trumped up charges, all to conceal her one failure—that of not producing a son and heir to the throne. Once freed from her earthly life, Anne quickly discovers her soul has survived and she meets “The Voice,” an ethereal, bodiless being that guides her to review, not only her life with Henry but other lives as well. She must examine each with brutal honesty as she compares, learns, and tries to come to terms with the betrayal.
Anne’s complicated personality unfolds as she discovers reasons for her volatile temper, her extreme passion, her indifference to her daughter Elizabeth, and how her loyalty to Henry’s first wife turned to scathing contempt. She sees how she, Henry and others of their circle of family and friends have been intertwined throughout the ages and how they have influenced and changed each other. Anne eventually meets Henry again in a later time—1970—and they are immediately drawn to each other. Is it from love? Or hate? As the author says, “It is a very unusual love story.”
Surprisingly, Gavin used the book, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Alison Weir, as her main source material. Weir’s non-fiction works have been roundly criticized by historians and novelists alike as speculation than more a scholarly effort. However, Gavin clearly states that her intention was not to write a historical novel about Anne Boleyn or a book about reincarnation. Threads is described as a fantasy, but it is much more than that. On her website (http://www.nellgavin.com/) Gavin says, “Threads…is about spiritual evolution in one lifetime or many, and about how difficult the growth process is. It’s about good and bad, right and wrong, and learning the difference. It’s about personal accountability and obligation. It’s also about love—each of the characters in the book represents a different aspect of love—and how it never dies, even when it disguises itself as hatred.”
That noted, Nell Gavin’s writing gives Anne Boleyn an astonishing realism, a highly intelligent, spiritual and elegant rendering. Told in first person, the book is almost literary in style as it flows seamlessly from one aspect to the next in a non-linear fashion. Gavin transcends mere time and space to craft a fascinating view of how reincarnation may be understood with clarity and honesty. This extraordinary book, while complex, is highly readable and will keep the reader’s attention in its grip right to the end.
Threads begins with Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536 and her furious sense of betrayal by her husband, the notorious Henry VIII. As Henry’s second wife, she was executed on trumped up charges, all to conceal her one failure—that of not producing a son and heir to the throne. Once freed from her earthly life, Anne quickly discovers her soul has survived and she meets “The Voice,” an ethereal, bodiless being that guides her to review, not only her life with Henry but other lives as well. She must examine each with brutal honesty as she compares, learns, and tries to come to terms with the betrayal.
Anne’s complicated personality unfolds as she discovers reasons for her volatile temper, her extreme passion, her indifference to her daughter Elizabeth, and how her loyalty to Henry’s first wife turned to scathing contempt. She sees how she, Henry and others of their circle of family and friends have been intertwined throughout the ages and how they have influenced and changed each other. Anne eventually meets Henry again in a later time—1970—and they are immediately drawn to each other. Is it from love? Or hate? As the author says, “It is a very unusual love story.”
Surprisingly, Gavin used the book, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Alison Weir, as her main source material. Weir’s non-fiction works have been roundly criticized by historians and novelists alike as speculation than more a scholarly effort. However, Gavin clearly states that her intention was not to write a historical novel about Anne Boleyn or a book about reincarnation. Threads is described as a fantasy, but it is much more than that. On her website (http://www.nellgavin.com/) Gavin says, “Threads…is about spiritual evolution in one lifetime or many, and about how difficult the growth process is. It’s about good and bad, right and wrong, and learning the difference. It’s about personal accountability and obligation. It’s also about love—each of the characters in the book represents a different aspect of love—and how it never dies, even when it disguises itself as hatred.”
That noted, Nell Gavin’s writing gives Anne Boleyn an astonishing realism, a highly intelligent, spiritual and elegant rendering. Told in first person, the book is almost literary in style as it flows seamlessly from one aspect to the next in a non-linear fashion. Gavin transcends mere time and space to craft a fascinating view of how reincarnation may be understood with clarity and honesty. This extraordinary book, while complex, is highly readable and will keep the reader’s attention in its grip right to the end.
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