Author: Suzannah Dunn is the author of ten previous novels, including The Sixth Wife, The queen of Subtleties, and The Queen`s Sorrow. She lives in Brighton, England.
About: The tragic, moving, and gripping story of the ascendance and fall of Katherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII and the best friend she nearly dragged down with her
When the twelve- year- old Katherine Howard comes to live in the Duchess of Norfolk`s household she could not be more different than her poor relation, Cat Tilney. Yet, of all their companions, it is Cat, watchful and ambitious to whom the seemingly frivolous young girl confides. When Katherine is summoned to the royal court at seventeen-- to become, months later, the the wife of Henry VIII after he casts off his previous queen--she leaves behind an ex-lover, Francis, with whom Cat is soon passionately involved.
But a future that seems assured for the pampered new queen and her maid-in-waiting lasts a brief year and a half, only to be imperiled by improper acts and scandalous allegations of girlhood love affairs.
Imprisoned in the Tower and hoping to escape a most terrible fate, a frightened, desperate Katherine relates a version of events that only Cat recognizes as a lie--as more than one life is threatened by what she alone knows to be the truth about Katherine Howard`s past.
My View: Katherine comes from a large family, she lost her mother and is sent to live with her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
She and 4 other girls are under the Duchess` care. Lessons are taught, but it seems there`s more free time than anything else. Henry Manox is the first fool around with Katherine. Next she gets involved with Francis Dereham and they pledge themselves to one another, which back then was as good as married.
At the age of seventeen she is called to court to be a lady in waiting to Queen Anne of Cleves. Does`t take long and Katherine herself is married to Henry.
After 1 year, Katherine`s life comes crashing down, she`s locked up, never has a trial and is beheaded just like her cousin Queen Anne Boleyn, 4 years before her. History does repeat itself.
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