A riveting new biography of a much neglected Queen - the doomed child-bride of Henry VIII. Joanna Denny, author of Anne Boleyn, reveals another sensational episode in Tudor history - illuminating the true character of Katherine Howard, the young girl caught up in a maelstrom of ambition and conspiracy which led to her execution for high treason while still only seventeen years old. Who was Katherine, the beautiful young aristocrat who became a bait to catch a king? Was she simply nave and innocent, a victim of her grasping family's scheming? Or was she brazen and abandoned, recklessly indulging in dissolute games with lovers in contempt of her royal position? Joanna Denny's enthralling new book once again plunges the reader into the heart of the ruthless intrigues of the Tudor court - and gives a sympathetic and poignant portrait of a girl tragically trapped and betrayed by her own family.
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About the Author
Joanna Denny is the author of Anne Boleyn, published by Portrait in April 2004, and reprinted shortly after publication. Her life-long interest in Tudor history was triggered by reading about her ancestor, Sir Henry Denny, Henry VIII's trusted courtier. She now lives in Falmouth, Cornwall.
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ON A COLD AND BRIGHT Sunday morning in early November, the sweet sound of singing echoed from the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ON A COLD AND BRIGHT Sunday morning in early November, the sweet sound of singing echoed from the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent well rounded book on Katherine Howard. She is often put to one side with Anne of Cleves as the less important of Henry VIII's wives, but her short life provides very interesting reading.
The author sets the scene, both politically in England as a whole and also the situations within the Howard family itself to set the platform for the reader to understand and empathise with later events.
I found this book much more objective than the author's previous book on Anne Boleyn; in this one she gives the views for and against, providing evidence from contemporary documents as to whether Katherine Howard was knowingly guilty of her premarital escapades or whether it was something that she had very little control over. It is still ultimately up to the reader to which side they take. Interesting points are provided as to whether she was in fact sexually abused and why it was not frowned on in her time etc.
There is a lot of information on the court of Henry VIII and his relationship with Thomas Howard, Duke Of Norfolk(Katherine's uncle), and how this in turn affected the way Katherine was treated.
As always with this era there are 101 plots going on at any one time within the court and the author beautifully presents these in relation to Katherine and how the knife twisted and resulted in her execution rather than just divorce and shame. There are some good amounts of information on the characters of the other women that surrounded Katherine, and their actions...such as Lady Rochford.
A fascinating, enjoyable read!
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Robert James
Format:Hardcover
As a youngster studying the six wives in school I was often entranced by the story of Katherine Howard. She has gone down in history as being a 'natural born tart' who distracted a sad old king while blantantly cuckolding him. But I always saw in my mind a young girl being faced with an awful death that had come from nowhere. And yet, she seemed brushed over and ignored.
But like Anne Boleyn before her she was the victim of a male-led society where women were feared and reviled, and because of this ultimately abused.
Joanna Denny finally gives Katherine Howard a book of her own. The fact that it has taken so long shows how hard it is for us to let go of the fact that some women 'deserve what they get'.
There are many faults with Ms Denny's book, and the scarcity of documents from the time contribute to some of them. I also feel that it would have been a more intellectually stimulating book if she had delved deeper into the feminist aspect of her story. Katherine was seen then, as now, as an irrelevant harlot. Ms. Denny paints her pretty much as an abused innocent who knew not what she did, but due to her sex and the fact she was married to the King not knowing was no defence.
Ms. Denny goes back to her past to find evidence of abuse and how this would have affected her personality and behaviour. She was the ultimate victime and would probably have been so even if her life had followed a different path.
It is Katherine Howard's main tragedy that unlike her cousin Anne Boleyn, she didn't change the world and in doing so make her mark on history.
But like Anne Boleyn before her she was the victim of a male-led society where women were feared and reviled, and because of this ultimately abused.
Joanna Denny finally gives Katherine Howard a book of her own. The fact that it has taken so long shows how hard it is for us to let go of the fact that some women 'deserve what they get'.
There are many faults with Ms Denny's book, and the scarcity of documents from the time contribute to some of them. I also feel that it would have been a more intellectually stimulating book if she had delved deeper into the feminist aspect of her story. Katherine was seen then, as now, as an irrelevant harlot. Ms. Denny paints her pretty much as an abused innocent who knew not what she did, but due to her sex and the fact she was married to the King not knowing was no defence.
Ms. Denny goes back to her past to find evidence of abuse and how this would have affected her personality and behaviour. She was the ultimate victime and would probably have been so even if her life had followed a different path.
It is Katherine Howard's main tragedy that unlike her cousin Anne Boleyn, she didn't change the world and in doing so make her mark on history.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For much of its duration, this is not really a biography, as not enough details of the subject's earliest life are known. It is really an account of the Howards' relationship with Henry VIII and is interesting for that, but the author's style is a bit journalistic and sometimes repetitive, for example the constant reiteration of the point that Katherine's uncle the Duke of Norfolk was simply using her as a pawn to pursue his dynastic ambitions. The author makes a good point that one's attitude towards Katherine depends in part on her assumed age at the time of her liaisons, about which there is disagreement, but she makes a good case for her birth as being in 1525, making her only 15 at her marriage to the King and probably less than 17 at her execution, thus making her less of the knowing late teenage flirt as which she has often been depicted and more of an abused victim. On the other hand, the author seems to be rather overly uncritical of Ann Boleyn and I feel no desire on this basis to read her biography of that earlier queen. Finally, the referencing is poor - there is a list of sources for each chapter, but no link given between these sources and quotes in the chapter itself; there are also random footnote references in the chapter that relate to nothing. Overall, somewhat disappointing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved this
Another book I absolutely loved. Managed to read well within a week. Thoroughly enjoyed and was quite upset when finished.
Published 20 days ago by Lesley Macmillan
4.0 out of 5 stars
A poignant portrayal of Henry's child queen
I was thoroughly impressed with this portrayal of Katherine Howard. Given the relatively scant primary contemporary information available, it is abundantly clear that Denny made... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Apocalyptic Queen
2.0 out of 5 stars
A sympathetic account spoiled by unsubstantiated opinions.
Joanna Denny has written an extremely sympathetic account of the life of Henry VIII's fifth queen. Denny asserts that Katherine's age should determine how you view her; that she... Read more
Published 10 months ago by K. J. Greenland
4.0 out of 5 stars
A balanced and sympathetic look at Katherine Howard
This book is a marked improvement over Danny's other book on Anne Boleyn. This one manages to make the reader regard Katherine Howard in a different light. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Cheryl Ann Hartnett
4.0 out of 5 stars
harrowing story
Out of all the 6 wives of Henry I have always found Katherine the most interesting and misunderstood, so I was very excited about reading a book symphatetic to her. Read more
Published on 27 April 2011 by Maria
2.0 out of 5 stars
A questionable portrayal of the "rose without the thorn".
Joanna Denny is largely famous in Tudor academia for her controversial book "Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen", particularly for her violent condemnation of... Read more
Published on 23 July 2010 by Conor Byrne
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wife No. 5 - villain or victim? Shedding new light on Katherine...
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived... that's how kids learn the extraordinary marriage history of Henry VIII. Well this is book is about wife No. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2007 by Amelrode
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poor little rich girl.
Dont think that because of the title this book is JUST about Katherine Howard as it actually covers all of Henry's wives to a greater or lesser extent. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2007 by Nicola Hepworth
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wife No. 5 - victim or villian?
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived... that's how kids learn the extraordinary marriage history of Henry VIII. Well this is book is about wife No. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2005 by Amelrode
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