The new novel from the bestselling author of THE SIXTH WIFE. 'England: firelight and fireblush; wine-dark, winking gemstones and a frost of pearls. Wool as soft as silk, in leaf-green and moss; satins glossy like a midsummer night or opalescent like winter sunrise. Little did we know it but that night we were already ghosts in our own lives.' When twelve-year-old Katherine Howard comes to live in the Duchess of Norfolk's household, poor relation Cat Tilney is deeply suspicious of her. The two girls couldn't be more different: Cat, watchful and ambitious; Katherine, interested only in clothes and boys. Their companions are in thrall to Katherine, but it's Cat in whom Katherine confides and, despite herself, Cat is drawn to her. Summoned to court at seventeen, Katherine leaves Cat in the company of her ex-lover, Francis, and the two begin their own, much more serious, love affair. Within months, the king has set aside his Dutch wife Anne for Katherine. The future seems assured for the new queen and her maid-in-waiting, although Cat would feel more confident if Katherine hadn't embarked on an affair with one of the king's favoured attendants, Thomas Culpeper. However, for a blissful year and a half, it seems that Katherine can have everything she wants. But then allegations are made about her girlhood love affairs. Desperately frightened, Katherine recounts a version of events which implicates Francis but which Cat knows to be a lie. With Francis in the Tower, Cat alone knows the whole truth of Queen Katherine Howard - but if she tells, Katherine will die.
The Confession of Katherine Howard
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Review
Praise for 'The Sixth Wife': 'My, what a story! utterly compelling.' The Times
'Suzannah Dunn weaves a love story that is both moving and believable of second chances at love, and passion reawakened.' Telegraph
'Mesmerising and beautifully written.' Scotsman
Praise for The Queen of Subtleties: 'The Queen of Subtleties' offers a stunningly refreshing way of retelling an old story. I often abandon historical novels nowadays, but I really could not put this one down. It brings Anne Boleyn to life as never before, and, probably for the first time ever in fiction, Henry VIII emerges as a truly credible character in an authentic setting.' Alison Weir Praise for THE QUEEN OF SUBTLETIES
'A remarkable writer, a lyricist of ordinary life and ordinary people transfigured by extreme emotions.' Daily Telegraph
'Suzannah Dunn is that rarity among contemporary novelists: a genuine stylist. Her prose is like truffles -- rich, rare, dark, but never cloying.' Wendy Perriam
'Her ear for the rhythms of speech is unerring, her feeling for the minutiae of experience acute. It takes a good deal of artistry to create the illusion of real life, and she has managed something more difficult still, which is to show who us how strange real life can be.' The Times
'Suzannah Dunn weaves a love story that is both moving and believable of second chances at love, and passion reawakened.' Telegraph
'Mesmerising and beautifully written.' Scotsman
Praise for The Queen of Subtleties: 'The Queen of Subtleties' offers a stunningly refreshing way of retelling an old story. I often abandon historical novels nowadays, but I really could not put this one down. It brings Anne Boleyn to life as never before, and, probably for the first time ever in fiction, Henry VIII emerges as a truly credible character in an authentic setting.' Alison Weir Praise for THE QUEEN OF SUBTLETIES
'A remarkable writer, a lyricist of ordinary life and ordinary people transfigured by extreme emotions.' Daily Telegraph
'Suzannah Dunn is that rarity among contemporary novelists: a genuine stylist. Her prose is like truffles -- rich, rare, dark, but never cloying.' Wendy Perriam
'Her ear for the rhythms of speech is unerring, her feeling for the minutiae of experience acute. It takes a good deal of artistry to create the illusion of real life, and she has managed something more difficult still, which is to show who us how strange real life can be.' The Times
About the Author
Suzannah Dunn is the author of ten books, all of which have been critically acclaimed. She has written three previous historical novels: The Queen of Subtleties, The Sixth Wife and The Queen’s Sorrow.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Y. Hannon
Format:Hardcover
I can sometimes be difficult to find a fresh writer to put on your 'favourite' list - but I have with Suzannah Dunn. I love this book so much I've now bought her earlier works: on Anne Boleyn (The Queen of Subtleties); Catherine Parr (The Sixth Wife); and Mary I (The Queen's Sorrow). For me, Suzannah is now right up there with Phillippa Gregory and Alison Weir. Although lots has been written about Katherine Howard, I can honestly couldn't put down 'The Confession'. The familiar story is told here with a renewed vigour, originality and suspense. A great book!
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
By Charliecat
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The story of the teenage Katherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, has been told numerous times in fact and in fiction but rarely so compellingly or with such style as in Susannah Dunn's new novel. The reader is plunged straight into the middle of the story, just days before Katherine Howard's fall from grace, and then taken back to Katherine's early years at the Duchess of Norfolk's house.
Told in the first person by Cat Tilney (a lady-in-waiting and childhood friend of Katherine's) we are told about their time together as teenagers where, with other girls, they were supposed to be learning to be ladies but were learning more about boys than anything else in the lax and slipshod Duchess' residence.
The story alternates between the claustrophobic Tudor court and the carefree life in the Duchess' house. This may sound confusing but the switch over between the past and present are always smooth and never jar on the reader.
Katherine Howard is portrayed as more knowing than I would have thought and she's a difficult character to warm to at times but the reader is always reminded of her youth, how little she really knew of the pitiless and vindictive Tudor court. Henry VIII is never really portrayed only glimpsed as a massive, monstrous and god-like figure who can destroy lives from a distance.
Susannah Dunn also tells a love story as the narrator falls in love with Francis Dereham only to have it all fall apart around her. It is a stunning story of betrayal, passion, innocence and fear packed with emotion and incident. Beautifully told, I was hooked until the last page.
Told in the first person by Cat Tilney (a lady-in-waiting and childhood friend of Katherine's) we are told about their time together as teenagers where, with other girls, they were supposed to be learning to be ladies but were learning more about boys than anything else in the lax and slipshod Duchess' residence.
The story alternates between the claustrophobic Tudor court and the carefree life in the Duchess' house. This may sound confusing but the switch over between the past and present are always smooth and never jar on the reader.
Katherine Howard is portrayed as more knowing than I would have thought and she's a difficult character to warm to at times but the reader is always reminded of her youth, how little she really knew of the pitiless and vindictive Tudor court. Henry VIII is never really portrayed only glimpsed as a massive, monstrous and god-like figure who can destroy lives from a distance.
Susannah Dunn also tells a love story as the narrator falls in love with Francis Dereham only to have it all fall apart around her. It is a stunning story of betrayal, passion, innocence and fear packed with emotion and incident. Beautifully told, I was hooked until the last page.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Roman Clodia
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This is a wonderfully-engaging re-telling of the story of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife, and manages to make a familiar tale genuinely fresh again. Set very much around a female court and household this is a story about female bodies, female duplicity and female sexuality.
Dunn, I think wisely, chooses not to have the narrative told by Katherine herself but, instead, by her girlhood friend and lady-in-waiting Cat Tilney. This allows her to maintain Katherine's own air of slightly enigmatic charisma and keeps us close to her without allowing us into Katherine's own head.
I particularly liked the way this doesn't portray Tudor women as closet modern-day women, as so many historical books do, always complaining about their lack of education and inability to choose their own husbands - something which no genuine C16th women do from the historical sources. Instead we see girls excited by the idea of arranged marriage because it gives them their own place at the head of the household. At the same time, women's ability to manage 'romance' as something outside of marriage, always problematic, is explored.
This Katherine is not particularly intelligent (but definitely not stupid either), not particularly pretty but still a powerful character in her self-belief and self-sufficiency, and pure inability to understand that anything can destroy her.
The narrative is split between long sections set in the present of the investigation against Katherine, and the past of her girlhood. But because the sections are long, the narrative avoids the choppy feel of similar structures and gives us time to settle into the story.
There are no 'good' and 'bad' characters in this book, it's far more nuanced than that. And the big events of the period tend to happen off-stage so that we're not distracted by them.
I'm usually very wary of fiction set in the Tudor period as it's a field that I work in but this is one of the best novels about it that I've read, that genuinely stands up as a novel in its own right, not just a series of familiar historical set-pieces strung together. Excellent.
Dunn, I think wisely, chooses not to have the narrative told by Katherine herself but, instead, by her girlhood friend and lady-in-waiting Cat Tilney. This allows her to maintain Katherine's own air of slightly enigmatic charisma and keeps us close to her without allowing us into Katherine's own head.
I particularly liked the way this doesn't portray Tudor women as closet modern-day women, as so many historical books do, always complaining about their lack of education and inability to choose their own husbands - something which no genuine C16th women do from the historical sources. Instead we see girls excited by the idea of arranged marriage because it gives them their own place at the head of the household. At the same time, women's ability to manage 'romance' as something outside of marriage, always problematic, is explored.
This Katherine is not particularly intelligent (but definitely not stupid either), not particularly pretty but still a powerful character in her self-belief and self-sufficiency, and pure inability to understand that anything can destroy her.
The narrative is split between long sections set in the present of the investigation against Katherine, and the past of her girlhood. But because the sections are long, the narrative avoids the choppy feel of similar structures and gives us time to settle into the story.
There are no 'good' and 'bad' characters in this book, it's far more nuanced than that. And the big events of the period tend to happen off-stage so that we're not distracted by them.
I'm usually very wary of fiction set in the Tudor period as it's a field that I work in but this is one of the best novels about it that I've read, that genuinely stands up as a novel in its own right, not just a series of familiar historical set-pieces strung together. Excellent.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what it says on the tin....
So this isn't the confession of Katherine Howard.It's the Confession of Katherine Howard's imaginary friend Cat, who didn't really exist but who makes a convenient narrator for a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. W. Hatfield
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointing
Only about 10% of this novel is actually about Catherine Howard. The rest is not really about anything at all - very bland and almost grinds to a halt in parts. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Thalia
4.0 out of 5 stars
gripping read
i find the Tudors facinating,but only recently i have started to read adult fiction set in this period,and i thought this seemed like a good place to start. Read more
Published 7 months ago by grace.r
5.0 out of 5 stars
Modern view of the young Queen Katherine
This book gets a lot of criticism for the "modern" language that is used. I disagree as I think that this makes the book very accessible and easy to read. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Janie U
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what it says on the tin!
I bought this immediately after reading The Queen of Subtleties which I had enjoyed because Dunn had taken a fresh approach to the story and wrote it from Anne's point of view... Read more
Published 10 months ago by C. Wilson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very slow
I think this book is good if you know absolutely nothing about Katherine Howard but if you know all about Francis Durham and Culpepper and things, its not all that... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Colleen
4.0 out of 5 stars
More confident with the novel form than similar writers
This isn't a history, but it is a good historical novel, well written and full of feeling for the characters caught up in a court they fail to understand. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Forester
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Confessions Of Katherine Howard
A totally compelling story written in the eyes of "Cat", Katherine Howards best friend. Quite raunchy in parts and brilliantly written. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Sara
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still some suspense wrung from a well-known story
I have read so much about this era, & despite of course knowing the final outcome, I still got very caught up in the story told from this viewpoint.
Published 13 months ago by OhErm
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tragic tale of a naive young girl
Written in two parts which overlap, the story is told from the point of view of Katherine's best friend and jumps back forth from their days as trainee ladies in waiting to the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Lyne
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