To Die For by Sandra Byrd

What would you sacrifice for your best friend? Would you die for her?

Meg Wyatt has been Anne Boleyn's closest friend ever since they grew up together on neighboring manors in Kent. So when twenty-five-year-old Anne's star begins to ascend, of course she takes Meg along for the ride.
Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling...at first. Meg is made mistress of Anne's wardrobe, and she enjoys the spoils of this privileged orbit and uses her influence for good. She is young and beautiful and in favor; everyone at court assumes that being close to her is being close to Anne.
But favor is fickle and envy is often laced with venom. As Anne falls, so does Meg, and it becomes nearly impossible for her to discern ally from enemy. Suddenly life's unwelcome surprises rub against court's sheen to reveal the tarnished brass of false affections and the bona fide gold of those are true. Both Anne and Meg may lose everything. When your best friend is married to fearsome Henry VIII, you may soon find yourself not only friendless but headless as well.
A rich alchemy of fact and fiction, To Die For chronicles the glittering court life, the sweeping romance, and the heartbreaking fall from grace of a forsaken queen and Meg, her closest companion, who was forgotten by the ages but who is destined to live on in our hearts forever.

I have been reading a lot of Tudor fiction lately. And, while I like reading about the "major players"... it's nice to read the story of one of the many who were (as it says in the synopsis)... "forgotten by the ages". Meg's story may not be as dramatic and dangerous as Anne's but it is, most definitely, worth reading.

My favorite part about this novel was to see Anne from a different point of view. I've seen her as the victim and the villain but I've never really seen her through the eyes of her best friend. We all have a best friend... someone who's seen us at our best and at our worst and loves us no matter what. Anne had such a friend in Meg.

While Anne's fate is known and is just as sad as always, this was Meg's story. She was an ordinary girl who lived in extraordinary circumstances. Above all, though, she was a friend to another who was also living in extraordinary circumstances.

I loved that Ms. Byrd wrote Meg as a strong character... flaws and all. Although her friendship with Anne was the basis for her story, there was so much more. As with any historical figure... those remembered and those forgotten... it is so wonderful to remember that they are just like us. Meg just lives her life...even while at Henry's Court. Granted, she lives it in beautiful gowns and sumptuous surroundings (for the times, of course).

You can read more about To Die For by Sandra Byrd on her website...www.sandrabyrd.com

Thanks to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours...http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html. Thanks as well to the publisher for providing a copy of To Die For in exchange a fair and thoughtful review.

Please check out HFVB for more blogs reviewing this beautifully written story of true friendship in desperate times and the woman who was "forgotten by the ages" but readers will remember every time they think of Anne Boleyn.