THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII by Alison Weir

4 out of 5 stars

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How I discovered this book: Twitter/X

In a Nutshell: Non-fiction account of the lives of the six queens

There is no doubt that this book is an exceptionally well-researched tome, with many quotes from those who were there at the time; this gives invaluable weight to those of us fascinated by these six women.

I did detect a certain bias; Weir has little good to say about Anne Boleyn, portraying her as a woman ruled by her ambition before anything else, though she mentioned the good works which Anne undertook without fanfare.  This, to me, made some of the other assumptions about her character seem less likely.  There is, of course, no doubt that Henry VIII was an overgrown child-monster who treated every one of them appallingly at some point during their time with him, but I've always believed (perhaps naïvely, I don't know) that Anne was as in love with Henry as he was with her.

I liked Weir's thoughts about Jane Seymour, that she was not just pushed forward by her family, but had calculated ambitions of her own.  I have long thought this, that she was not the retiring innocent flower of legend.  Catherine Howard I felt got a raw deal from this book, as it concentrated on her wanton ways rather than the fact that, as a child brought up without parents and siblings, she was preyed on by older men.  However, so much that we think or think we know about these famous ladies cannot be proven, so perhaps I read it with as much bias as that with which I considered it to be written - it's hard to assess!

I enjoyed reading this book, though I admit to skip reading some of what I considered to be rather laboured detail about the various political situations, though I can understand why it was included.

It's good, but I was a little disappointed in parts.

SERVANT OF DEATH by Gemma Lawrence @TudorTweep

5 GOLD stars

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How I discovered this book: Not so much discovered as awaited its release with great impatience!

In a Nutshell: The sixth and final installment of The Armillary Sphere series about Lady Jane Rochford, who served five of Henry VIII's queens and was married to George Boleyn, brother of Anne.

When I finished this book I felt a gap in my reading life; I kept subconsciously thinking I had it still to go back to then realising, with disappointment, that I hadn't.  LOVED it, probably the best of the series.  

Servant of Death takes us up to the downfall of poor sweet Catherine Howard and, of course, Jane.  If it wasn't for the fact that he was a murderous, self-absorbed tyrant who gave new meaning to the word 'narcissist', one could almost have felt sorry for Henry VIII, so cleverly has Ms Lawrence described how he adored Catherine and thought he'd finally found his perfect woman - though actually what he adored was his fantasy of her, as he neither knew her nor had any inkling that she lived in fear of him, not love.  His 'love' for her was but a reflection of the image of himself that her presence provided.  In this book we see so clearly the desperation that he thought was his own secret, not knowing how everyone else could see that Catherine was his last hurrah, as in vain he tried to stop the last grains of youth falling through the fat fingers that signed the death warrants for wives and friends alike.

This series has shown how, throughout her life, Jane was in the shadows of everyone else's dramas, with little opportunity to find happiness for herself, or even to work out what that happiness might have included, had she the freedom to find it.  As well as Catherine's times with Culpepper, I was glad for both her and Jane that they found comfort in their friendship; both their lives were robbed from them by the men in their world, from the very start.  In this finale, more than in the other books, the sense of women having no control over their own lives is starkly shown.  

The slow build-up to the point when Jane and Catherine were placed under house arrest (or apartment/chamber arrest, I suppose) was horribly sinister, especially as there was a whisper of what was happening on the wind.  I wondered how Ms Lawrence would depict Jane's alleged lapse into insanity at the end of her life, and the way in which she did so was most convincing; I felt almost as though Jane was freeing herself of society's behavioural requirements, and allowing her head to go in whichever direction it pleased.

I highly recommend this whole series, particularly the last three.  Highly, highly, highly - and two days on, that gap in my reading life remains.

MY LADY SPY by Gemma Lawrence @TudorTweep #TuesdayBookBlog

5 GOLD stars

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How I discovered this book: a favourite author, a great series, I was looking forward to it rather than discovering it!  Originally discovered Gemma Lawrence via Twitter; first read her work on Wattpad.

In a Nutshell: Book 5 of the Armillary Sphere series, about Lady Jane Rochford.

Easily my favourite book in this series so far, My Lady Spy is set during Lady Jane's time at court during the reign of three wives of Henry VIII: Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard.  

Jane Seymour

The slight psychic abilities that Ms Lawrence has given Jane are beautifully written in this book; the one that sticks in my head, in particular, is her momentary vision of how Catherine's life might have been had the King died during their marriage.  In another writer's hand this somewhat supernatural element could have seemed out of place in a novel with such factual credibility, but Gemma Lawrence gets it just right.

Anne of Cleves

When Jane is coaching the ladies in her charge, as preparation for the arrival of Anne of Cleves, much is explained about the protocol of the court and the day to day life of those who lived there; I enjoyed reading this very much, and also the way in which life in London is portrayed.  I also loved the way in which Jane's own inner story develops in this book, as she deftly controls her obligations to Cromwell while dealing with her own loneliness and sadness, and her loyalty to her true masters: all three queens.  All hail Anne of Cleves, perhaps the most clever of all six, and certainly the most fortunate.

The story of Jane's close friendship with Catherine Howard is heartbreaking to read, knowing as we do how it must end.  I was glad it brought them both some happiness for a while, however short-lived.

Tamzin Merchant as Catherine Howard in The Tudors

This novel gives much grim detail about the ruthless, evil dissolution of the monasteries, and makes all too clear the daily tension of living in a world where one never knew what the tyrant King would do next; on several occasions I saw certain parallels with our world now.  History repeats itself in many ways!

'Common people, noble too, did not welcome all that had happened over the past three years.  Elements of life left unchanged, stable for generations, for all time as far as the collective memory of the people understood, had altered beyond recognition in a matter of months.  The world, once stable under our feet, was trembling, and the people did not like it.'

'If those in ultimate control of us are evil then there is no hope for us, so we blame others.  We make our masters, these tyrants, innocent so we remain safe in their power.  Fictions control more of the world than we realise.'

'When tragedy comes for one, it comes for all.  Evil does not affect but one of us, not just a few, but permitting evil, standing aside as it rides towards us, allows it into our world, and all our world it poisons, a little at a time.'

This episode ends as Catherine Howard marries the King, and as Cromwell gets his just deserts (head removed from body).  I loved everything about this novel, and only wish Book 6 was already available!

Jane

THE WINCHESTER GOOSE by Judith Arnopp @JudithArnopp

5 of 5 stars

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How I discovered this book: I'm a fan of this author, and a tweet about this book made me choose it as my next read.

In a Nutshell: Two women, one rich and one poor, in Henry VIII's London.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It's set in the era during which Henry VIII was married to Anne of Cleves, then to Katherine Howard, finishing at the time of his marriage to Catherine Parr, though this is but a backdrop for Judith Arnopp's main story, which is told mainly in the first person points of view of two women leading very different lives.

Isabella Bourne was born into nobility, and, when young and unmarried, takes up  a place at court, along with her sister, the vivacious Eve.  She attends both queens.  The other main character is Joanie Toogood, the 'Winchester Goose' of the title.  This was how the prostitutes living in Southwark were known; her mother was a prostitute too, and led Joanie into the life when she was too young to protest.  What the two women have in common is their association with young rogue Francis Wareham; through certain events, their lives become inextricably linked.

I liked how Ms Arnopp placed Isabella as one of the women attending Katherine during her imprisonment, a clever idea and completely feasible; I assume those women were not named, in accounts of the time. This enabled us to see how Anne and Katherine were perceived by those around them.  The descriptions of Joanie's meagre life on the other side of the river (literally and metaphorically) sat in stark comparison, though Joanie did not seem any less happy than Isabella; they're both gutsy, likable characters, and their situations give a clear illustration of the lot of women in those days.

The story itself is inventive and unusual, and did not progress as I expected it to, at all - always a plus.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a cracking good tale set Tudor times.

NO MORE TIME TO DANCE by Gemma Lawrence @TudorTweep

5 GOLD stars

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How I discovered this book: I didn't so much discover it as wait for it to come out and make haste to Amazon as soon as I saw (on Twitter) that it was available!  I've read and reviewed almost all this author's books.

In a Nutshell:  Part II of a two book series about the life of Catherine Howard.

Loved it, loved it.  This second book takes us from the beginning of Catherine's marriage to Henry VIII, to her death, and in this book, as in the previous one, Gemma Lawrence shows us a different Catherine from the one so often portrayed; a young woman ill-educated, but not without intelligence and understanding of people.  A woman who knew what she must do to survive, until those who resented her position whispered the words that would bring about her downfall.

At the end of the book, Ms Lawrence's notes give her educated opinion about many of the fictions and assumptions told down the years, about this fifth wife of Henry.  For instance, Catherine never actually said that she would rather die as the wife of Thomas Culpepper than live as the wife of the King, as she was facing her death, and it is unlikely that she had the raging physical affair with Culpepper as portrayed, for instance, in Showtime's The Tudors.  We actually have very little factual knowledge about her.

Lawrence's Catherine talks much about the lot of women in that period in which she lived, and about the men who abused her (Manox and Dereham): Their greatest power is our silence.  An echo through time, of all women too scared to speak out about abuse, both mental and physical.  This aspect, though, is not rammed down the reader's throat; the book is just a cracking good read, in which I was totally engrossed all the way through.  The historical detail paints perfect pictures, both of the way in which the people lived, and England itself (I loved reading about the Progress, the buildings, the countryside).  

There was so much I loved about this book: the portrayal and understanding of Henry's motivations, fears and self-delusion, the fact that Catherine never refers to him as 'Henry' but always as 'the King' or 'my husband', and the sense of suspense when she doesn't know that she is far from safe is real page-turning stuff.

Excellent two book series.  Highly recommended.

SHADOW OF PERSEPHONE by Gemma Lawrence @TudorTweep

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
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How I discovered this book: I love this author's books and she has instructions to let me know as soon as a new one comes out!

In a Nutshell: the first in a two-part series about Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII.

Gemma Lawrence has given an interesting and unusual view of Catherine Howard in this first book about her life, which starts when she was sent to be brought up at the house of her grandmother, Agnes Howard, from the age of around seven, and takes us right through to her wedding to Henry VIII.  Ms Lawrence gives a thorough explanation, in the back of the book, about why she sees her not as the frivolous, superficial butterfly who knew little and cared less, but as a abused, lonely child, damaged by her early experiences, who, though not academically educated, was intelligent, clever, and used those experiences to gather her wits about her for what was to come. 

As with all Ms Lawrence's books, this spares no historical detail.  In the first twenty per cent, when Catherine was child and the country was caught up in the saga of Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon, there is much talk of what was going on at court.  This is conveyed mostly in staged conversation between Agnes Howard and the Duke of Norfolk (almost like a play), and although it is interesting, and relevant to the world in which Catherine would eventually find herself, I looked forward to getting back to the story of Catherine.  As the novel progresses, her own life soon takes centre stage once more, and I was completely engrossed; it was one of the those books that got better and better as it went along, and by 80% I was trying to read slowly to make it last longer

The second half of the book concerns much about when Catherine went to court, and the Anne of Cleves fiasco.  This part was particularly fascinating to me, as I have only read a few accounts of the second and more fortunate Anne, the true winner in the tale of Henry VIII's six wives.  I loved the court gossip; much of the tale is told in this way.  

Few reliable accounts about Catherine Howard exist, and if I sometimes thought that Ms Lawrence wrote her as more mature, analytical and intelligent than one imagines her, this all made sense in the notes about her at the back, where Ms Lawrence gives a highly convincing argument for the young Howard girl having far more savvy than history would have us believe - you've won me over to your way of thinking, Gemma!  If you already know the story of Catherine, it might make sense to read these first.

The novel tells us much about the lot of women in those days - even if rich, from a 'good' family and in possession of much beauty and intelligence, their lives were never their own, with their futures completely at the whim of men's wishes and politics.  Those who survived and gained some happiness were masters of the game, or simply those who were in the right place at the right time - but even clever souls like Anne Boleyn and Catherine could not get every move right.  Maybe the cleverest of all were those who understood their lot and didn't try to assert themselves - like Anne of Cleves.

This was a fine book, and I am already counting the days until the release of the second part.