Amenable Women by Mavis Cheek

I bought this book on impulse and, to be honest, was a bit worried that it might turn out to be rather too 'chick lit' for my taste. I wa delighted to find that it was actually a thoughtful novel about a woman who is continually overshadowed by her outgoing, super-attractive husband. It is only after his death that she discovers he wasn't quite as perfect as he seemed. As she learns to get used to life on her own, while shut away in the country village where she lives, she is drawn to the tale that Henry VIII's discarded wife, Anne of Cleves, once lived locally and begins to research Anne's story. This is a heart-warming story of how two discarded and largely unwanted wives found their independence and their own satisfaction in life and it's one of only a few books that focus on the lives of mature, rather ordinary women rather than young and vibrant go-getters. I thought it was charming.

I like the stuff that I've read by Mavis Cheek - as you say, it's packaged like chick lit but is in fact much smarter and better! I have read Janice Gentle Gets Sexy and also, I think, Aunt Margaret's Lover.