Alison Weir

"Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir tells the tragic story of Henry VIII's fifth wife, a nineteen-year-old beauty with a hidden past, in this fifth novel in the sweeping Six Tudor Queens series. In the spring of 1540, Henry VIII, desperate to be rid of his queen, Anna of Kleve, first sets eyes on the enchanting Katheryn Howard. Although the king is now an ailing forty-nine-year-old measuring fifty-four inches around his waist, his amorous gaze lights upon the pretty teenager. Seated near him intentionally by her ambitious Catholic family, Katheryn readily succumbs to the courtship. Henry is besotted with his bride. He tells the world she is a rose without a thorn, and extols her beauty and her virtue. Katherine delights in the pleasures of being queen and the power she has to do good to others. She comes to love the ailing, obese king and tolerate his nightly attentions. If she can bear him a son, her triumph will be complete. But Katheryn has a past of which Henry knows nothing, and which comes back increasingly to haunt her--even as she courts danger yet again"--

A Novel

Katheryn Howard, the Scandalous Queen

Holly 

“It is the misfortune of those of high birth to be married for and advantage. I speak from experience, as one who has married for policy and for love. Love is the more important. Never forget that, Katheryn. What good is policy when you are forced to spend your life sleeping with a woman you cannot love?"

Ley Stanton

The fifth installment of the Six Tudor Queens series, each following a different queen of Henry VIII. The first that I read in the series was Anne Boleyn, A King's Obsession which is, by far, my favorite portrayal of Anne Boleyn ever. As a reader, you slowly watch her personality morph into the character that is known to be at the end of her life. The second that I read is Anna of Kleve, The Princess in the Portrait which I could not finish because they completely changed her personality and even added events that certainly did not occur. I was hopeful for this installment because I have recently fallen in love with learning about Katheryn Howard, she is such an interesting figure in history. There is so little known about her and historians are constantly trying to piece together her early life to make sense of what ultimately happened to her. If you are looking to actually learn more about her life, I would highly suggest the book, Young and Damned and Fair by Gareth Russell. 

It's time for me to admit defeat for this series and give up, I've only liked one out of the few I've read. Normally I can find some aspects of Tudor books that I enjoy but this one was truly a struggle. Katheryn's personality was constantly changed, as if the author couldn't decide exactly how she wanted to portray her. That was exceptionally frustrating as a reader because I could never understand why she was reacting the way that she did. Her thought process never makes sense. One of the biggest changes the author decided to make with her story was making Katheryn far more intelligent than she is believed to be. Considering the things that she did and the way she was generally perceived, most people assume that she was quite dumb or at least quite naive. By making her more intelligent and playing dumb, it just made Katheryn come off very off to me. 

The thing that stood out to me the most was the fact that Katheryn was portrayed to be older than she is generally believed to be. Historians cannot pinpoint her age because of bad record-keeping in her time but she is believed to be in her mid-teens when she met and married Henry VIII. Instead, the author decided to make her 19 at the beginning of her relationship with the King. I think this was an attempt to make her relationship less gross to read about or make her a less sympathetic character. I think the reason history as remained interested in her, aside from who she was married to, is the fact that she was so young when she was married (possibly only 14-15) and when she died. By taking that away from her, that takes away a core part of her story.

I thought I would enjoy this, I was hoping for another story like Anne Boleyn's but I was not so lucky. There were so many things that just rubbed me the wrong way about this book, I felt like there was so much lost potential. I also felt that the book dragged on far longer than was necessary with just Katheryn's perspective and not much occurring for the book. I find that Katheryn's story is better told with Jane Boleyn's. Without Jane, the reader misses so much of the thought process behind the things that occurred. I may decide to pick up some of the other books in the series, I am curious to see if Anne Boleyn's book was merely a fluke.

Roos Kuijper 

First, I would like to thank Edelweiss and Random House Publishing group – Ballantine for the e-arc. This has not influenced my opinion. 

Katheryn Howard is, in my opinion, the least interesting wife of all Henry’s wives. I was never really interested in her, but I was curious what Weir would do with her story. And surprisingly, this novel changed my opinion about her. Katheryn grew on me. Weir made sure that you understand Katheryn and the choices she made, although you may not agree with her. I started to like Katheryn. 

Weir tells Katheryn Howard’s story from a young age: how her mother passed away early, how her father made bad decisions and treated her, how she moved between distant relatives and ends up with Agnes Howard, the grand duchess. Katheryn is not the smartest girl, she is more interested in dance and music lessons than learning how to write English and how to speak French. She is also so naïve! But she is also really sweet, so you cannot be angry with her. Kinda, like Henry himself.

Before I started this book, I was a little bit afraid that much would be repeated from the book of Anna of Kleve. Luckily, this wasn’t the case. Katheryn is such a different character than Anna, even some of the same scenes we’ve read in Anna of Kleve felt completely different. 
I now have more compassion and understanding for this young women (let’s not forget that she was only 19 when she married Henry and he was 49), who really didn’t deserve her faith. 

Weir has, as she does for every novel she writes, done a lot of research for Katheryn. Even though there isn’t as much information available about Katheryn as with the other wives, she has done a great job in her portrait of Katheryn. Weir also has such a nice writing style. The story reads so easily, I flew through it. Ive always read a little more than I was planning to. 

Katheryn Howard: the scandalous queen was a great read, it even changed my opinion about Katheryn. It made me wonder what her life really would have been like! So I gave it 4 stars.

Ps. How interesting would it be if Weir wrote a book from the perspective of Jane Parker, lady Rochford, because I loved how Weir portraited her in this book.

britt

Bella Martin 

Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir tells the tragic story of Henry VIII's fifth wife, a nineteen-year-old beauty with a hidden past, in this fifth novel in the sweeping Six Tudor Queens series. "A vivid re-creation of a Tudor tragedy."--Kirkus Reviews In the spring of 1540, Henry VIII is desperate to be rid of his unappealing German queen, Anna of Kleve. A prematurely aged and ailing forty-nine, with an ever-growing waistline, he casts an amorous eye on a pretty nineteen-year-old brunette, Katheryn Howard. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, Katheryn is a niece of the Duke of Norfolk, England's premier Catholic peer, who is scheming to replace Anna of Kleve with a good Catholic queen. A fun-loving, eager participant in the life of the royal court, Katheryn readily succumbs to the king's attentions when she is intentionally pushed into his path by her ambitious family. Henry quickly becomes besotted and is soon laying siege to Katheryn's virtue. But as instructed by her relations, she holds out for marriage and the wedding takes place a mere fortnight after the king's union to Anna is annulled. Henry tells the world his new bride is a rose without a thorn, and extols her beauty and her virtue, while Katheryn delights in the pleasures of being queen and the rich gifts her adoring husband showers upon her: the gorgeous gowns, the exquisite jewels, and the darling lap-dogs. She comes to love the ailing, obese king, enduring his nightly embraces with fortitude and kindness. If she can bear him a son, her triumph will be complete. But Katheryn has a past of which Henry knows nothing, and which comes back increasingly to haunt her--even as she courts danger yet again. What happens next to this naïve and much-wronged girl is one of the saddest chapters in English history.

Katheryn Howard, the Scandalous Queen A Novel

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