Now we have The Boleyn Secret, her detail-rich story of a young woman who was niece to Henry’s tragic second queen, Anne Boleyn; close companion and First Lady of the Bedchamber to Anne’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I; and, perhaps, a blood relation to the king himself.
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| Pub. by Ballantine (2026) |
Was Katherine Carey the natural child of Henry VIII and his reported mistress Mary Boleyn, Anne’s sister? Speculation has buzzed for centuries.
“With fiction,” Weir wrote on social media, “you can use your imagination to fill in the gaps, explain people’s motives and reasoning, or even make up storylines. However, I feel strongly that what a historical novelist invents should be credible within the context of what is known about the subject.” Though we may never know for sure, The Boleyn Secret develops a response to this “what if” that’s grounded in historical research. (Weir credits Wendy J. Dunn’s nonfiction biography Henry VIII’s True Daughter: Catherine Carey, A Tudor Life as a particularly valuable source.)
Kate Carey, whose father William Carey died when she was four, has grown used to attracting odd attention, but she doesn’t understand it. She closely resembles the Lady Elizabeth, who sports the same shade of red hair… but they are first cousins, after all. After her aunt Anne is executed – an event that 12-year-old Kate is horrified to witness – Kate has the honor of rejoining Elizabeth’s household, even though the other Boleyns have been disgraced. King Henry has always been kind to her, and curious about her life, though she, understandably, detests him for his role in her aunt’s death:
She did not think she could bear to see that unspeakable, blood-soaked monster. She feared she might try to scratch his eyes out or give him a piece of her mind. She knew that, in truth, she would do no such thing, but still she did not want to be anywhere near him.
Much later, after Kate falls in love with Francis Knollys, a most suitable potential spouse, King Henry must approve of their marriage. Why?
The woman who may hold answers is Kate’s mother, Mary Boleyn, who’s been lying low with her beloved second husband, Will Stafford, ever since their unequal match caused a scandal at court.
Weir drops hints about Kate’s origins throughout the early sections, so much so that the “Boleyn secret” won’t be one to the reader. Instead, her novel focuses on how this kind woman discovers and comes to terms with a legacy she finds abhorrent – and how she navigates her friendship with her brilliant yet possessive cousin, Elizabeth.
Weir describes their relationship’s delicate balance with finesse as Elizabeth’s status falls, then rises. At first, Kate acts as her loving mentor, a source of stability in young Elizabeth's volatile life. After Elizabeth accedes to the English throne, her Kate becomes the companion she can’t live without, regardless of Kate’s own wishes.
Alongside the “secret,” the novel emphasizes Kate’s role as wife and mother, and how she strives to tenderly care for her family amid her royal obligations. The religious changes in the realm are ever-present, and Weir presents another new angle on Tudor society and politics as Kate and Francis, staunch Protestants, face danger during Mary I’s Catholic rule and head abroad for their safety.
As biographical fiction, The Boleyn Secret is solidly entertaining fare about a lesser-known historical woman, the uncertain status she may have endured, and the weighty responsibility of serving a queen.
The Boleyn Secret was published in May by Ballantine in the US and Canada, and by Headline Review in the UK. This is an expansion and substantial reworking of a review I’d written for Booklist Online in May.
