Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy [Paperback]

Joanna Denny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

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 17 years old. Who was Katherine, the beautiful young aristocrat who became a bait to catch a king? Was she simply naive 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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joanna Denny is the author of Anne Boleyn (0 7499 5051 X), 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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Books (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749951206
• ISBN-13: 978-0749951207
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,212,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > King Henry VIII

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Biased Book, March 25, 2008

By 

Marjorie F. Smith (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy (Paperback)

This thin account of the life of Henry V1's fifth wife is readable and enjoyable. The unwary reader may miss the obvious bias of the author against the Roman Catholic religion. Anne Boleyn was a good woman, religious, pious and wrongfully betrayed by Catholic partisans who are the bad guys.
"Katherine had been raised as a traditional Catholic. In awe of the
rituals, swayed by the mysticism and unquestioning theological
doctrines. She lit candles for her dead parents, ate fish on
Fridays and said her prayers by rote in the happy assurance that
whatever she did would be forgiven in the confessional."
This myth of the meaning of the sacrament of Confession betrays either a willful misrepresentation or a deliberate slur. The good guys are Reformers whose motives a pure and noble. Katherine Howard was a pawn of the same partisans and her wild sexual behavior was largely the fault of adult neglect during her formative years. According to this author. If you want entertainment then this is your book. If you want a more scholarly presentation of the issues of the day and the actors in this Tudor drama then look elsewhere.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Assumes facts not in evidence, April 28, 2009

By 

C. Ash "A Reading Fool" (Mill Valley, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy (Paperback)

This author is reaching far beyond what other biographers and Tudor historians have been willing to assume. It declares that Henry was the father of Mary Boleyn's two children, Catherine and Henry Carey, who were both born after her marriage to William Carey and neither of whom were acknowledged publicly by Henry VIII. There is plentiful speculation as to whether they were or not, but no certainty, or even real evidence one way or another. This is extremely important, since she attributes some significant political motives to Henry VIII based on his supposed relationship to the unacknowledged Carey children that would have been out of character.

She also gives Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, credibility without consideration of his acknowledged bias. Her discussion of the Duke of Richmond makes claims about Henry VIII's supposed directions to the Duke of Norfolk and his treatment of Richmond's widow, without ever quoting the correspondence that should contain these communications. In fact, Denny spends more space quoting other historians (often to show how they overlooked something she finds telling) than she does the subjects of the book. In the description of the fall of Anne Boleyn, she does not even mention Mark Smeaton, the lute player, or describe the motives of Jane Boleyn in ratting out her husband and sister-in-law.

This might be a fun read, but I wouldn't rely on it as an informative one. Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser have both written group biographies of the wives of Henry VIII that are much more informative, better cited, and more considered analyses than this one.

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, March 22, 2008

By 

L. B. Bridges (Fayetteville, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy (Paperback)

This book was somewhat disapointing not because of the skill of the author. The historical material is so thin, it is difficult to fabricate a story.