A Queen’s Revenge

Lehmann’s revisionist history doesn’t save Boleyn, but it also doesn’t stop her.

In 1536, Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, was executed on charges of treason, incest, and adultery. In The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann ’03, Boleyn awakens hours after her execution with her head in her lap and one thing on her mind: revenge.

In the book, as in history, Anne falls out of favor with the king when she fails to produce a male heir, bearing only a daughter, Elizabeth. In real life, Elizabeth was eventually restored to the line of succession and became Queen Elizabeth I. But in The Beheading Game, Anne awakens knowing only that the king intends to wed her former lady in waiting, and that an heir produced from their union would threaten Elizabeth’s claim to the throne.

Anne reattaches her head and embarks on a quest to kill King Henry before he can father another heir. Disguised as a commoner and aided by a local prostitute, she learns more in death about the realities of 16th-century London than she ever did during her life as a noblewoman and queen.

“In Lehmann’s brilliant hands, ferocious, feminist Anne turns from hunted to hunter, from disdained to loved, a transformation that is pure poetry,” writes V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Brotherless Night. “If you have ever wanted better for Anne Boleyn, this unlikely love story is for you.”

The Beheading Game was longlisted for the Crown Award for debut fiction from the Historical Writers’ Association. Lehmann is an associate professor of English and gender and women’s studies at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Published in the Winter 2026 issue