No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard [Paperback]

Sarah A. Hoyt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2010

The author who "masterfully builds a dramatic story" presents another gripping novel of the women of Tudor England.

As the bereft, orphaned cousin to the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard knows better than many the danger of being favored by the King. But she is a Howard, and therefore ambitious, so she assumes the role Henry VIII has assigned her-his untouched child bride, his adored fifth wife. But her innocence is imagined, the first of many lies she will have to tell to gain the throne. And the path that she will tread to do so is one fraught with the same dangers that cost Queen Anne her head.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sarah A. Hoyt lives in Colorado Springs with her family and writes books in several genres-fantasy, mystery, and historical-under a variety of pseudonyms.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade; Original edition (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425232514
• ISBN-13: 978-0425232514
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Portugal far more years ago than I like to admit to, in a -- then very small -- place called Granja (lugar da Granja -- lugar possibly transtating roughly as hamlet -- but literally translating as "place") in the freguesia (allegiance/fiefdom) of Aguas-Santas (Holy Waters) in the Conselho (council) of Maia in the district of Porto.

All those designations are changed now, but as I like to tell people I grew up somewhere between Elizabethan England and Victorian England with just a little of the twentieth century thrown in.

This might be exaggerating -- not much -- but the truth is that I did go to a village school and learn to write with a quill pen. Though I used ballpoint pens at home. I penned my first "novel" with ballpoint at around the age of six. And since it was pretty easy -- all twenty pages of Enid Blyton rip-off -- I abandoned what I (by then) suspected was an unattainable aspiration of becoming an angel when I grew up. I decided instead to be a novelist.

Once this was decided, of course, it didn't take all that long at all. Only some... cough... twenty years, during which I acquired a degree from the University of Porto (where we didn't use quill pens), found that employment for English majors was at best scant, moved to the US, changed my name, got married, worked at a variety of jobs from multilingual translator to retail clerk, had two kids and a varying and scary number of cats and read far more than is good for any human being.

So, now I live in Colorado with my husband, two teen sons who are both taller and stronger -- and far more handsome -- than I and four indoor cats, plus a variety of Not-Our-Cats(tm) who beg food at the kitchen door and for whom we provide facilities summer and winter. But who are not... cough... our cats. Ever.

I've been telling lies for fun and profit since 1994 (I did it for free long before that.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent novel about Kathryn Howard and her life and times., April 7, 2010

By 

Barb Caffrey "writer-for-hire" (In a Midwest State (of mind), USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard (Paperback)

Sarah A. Hoyt's "No Will But His" is an excellent historical romance about Kathryn Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Kathryn Howard has always been given short shrift by scholars because she was young, frivolous, and her letters showed abominable penmanship and little literary craftsmanship; seemingly, Kathryn Howard was the one woman King Henry VIII married without accomplishment. But as Ms. Hoyt's novel shows, Kathryn Howard was far from stupid or silly; she was young, vivacious, somewhat unlettered but bright and ambitious . . . and she attracted the King as a bee attracts honey because of her good qualities, not in spite of them.

Kathryn Howard's life has always been an enigma to modern readers, partly because of the motto she chose from the first -- "No One Will Than His," which was a shrewd move on her part as she was the second cousin of his doomed second wife, Anne Boleyn, and Kathryn knew as well as anyone that King Henry VIII's overweening pride must be catered to at all times. So she adopted a somewhat deceptive mask of docility, and played up her best qualities to attract, then keep her husband, the King, engaged and focused. She found it her patriotic duty; she felt it was important, and necessary, and needful, which is why she married the King despite having no love for him. (She did like the King, and she hoped that would be enough. And of course there was no realistic way to tell King Henry VIII "no" in anything, so once Henry's will and focus was upon her, she had to acquiesce. That she enjoyed doing so is a product of her time and mores, as Ms. Hoyt ably shows.)

This is an engaging tale that explains why Kathryn Howard would take such a motto; it explains why her penmanship and letters were so bad (she was a disregarded poor relation for the first fourteen years or so of her life, and was educated primarily in music and etiquette once her formidable grandmother took an interest); it explains why she took a lover (partly to provide for the succession, as Henry's health was notoriously bad by this point, and often could "not perform the (husbandly) office"), and how hard she fought to stay alive. Ms. Hoyt makes the case that Kathryn Howard was more unlucky than anything else; she was smart, and wanted to provide for the succession, and had a great zest for life.

Even though I knew from history that Kathryn Howard was doomed from the start, I rooted for her; this is an engaging, flawed heroine whose only real faults were that she was young, and vivacious, and wanted to live. Had she lived in just about any other era -- with any other King being her husband -- she would've fared far better, I sensed after reading this novel.

At any rate, I enjoyed this novel immensely, and believe readers in historical romance, fiction, or those who love England and/or the life and times of Henry VIII will appreciate and admire this book. The craftsmanship is exceptional, the historicity is authentic, and the story-telling is well done; what else could you possibly want? (Aside from reading all of Ms. Hoyt's books you can possibly find, that is.)

Five stars, highly recommended.

Barb Caffrey

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good fiction, April 11, 2010

By 

K. Hooper - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard (Paperback)

I'm a huge fan of the Tudor times, and I was happy when I found out about this book. Most of the Tudor fiction out there is either about Anne, or her child, the future Queen Elizabeth. No complaints here, since Anne's story is the most interesting, and the most tragic. Rarely is there a book about Henry's fifth queen, Katherine Howard. Like the other fictional book about Katherine Howard I've read before, this book was quite short, and though it was well done, I still found it lacking. As any book about the Tudors, I wish it was longer and more drawn out. Though Katherine's life was short, the story of her does not have to be. I wish the author had included at least a hundred more pages in the book, particularly in the time of the marriage between her becoming queen and her execution. Those who don't know much about the period may wonder how it all went downhill. The author rushed through her ending too quickly, leaving me wanting more. A good start though to anyone wanting to know more about the lives of Henry VIII's queens.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting, Immediate, and Intimate, May 2, 2010

By 

Mrs. Tom - See all my reviews

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This review is from: No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard (Paperback)

No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard

No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard by Sarah A. Hoyt puts us intimately in thoughts and emotions of the fifth of Henry VIII's wives. Kathryn Howard, though of an illustrious family name, was the daughter of the ne'er-do-well of the family. Raised in penury by a succession of step-mothers, none of whom could be bothered to spend the money to educate their step-children, Kathryn is taken at an extremely young age to be part of her grandmother's household. But her education is still neglected, she's raised by the other 'ladies' who are all but ignored by her grandmother, with the result that an extremely intelligent, breathtakingly beautiful child is easily led astray. A mind *is* a terrible thing to waste.
Kathryn Howard has left us all but illegible letters, and a skeleton which modern forensics places at seventeen years of age at the oldest. This would, by all modern reckoning, make Henry VIII a child molester, and we are there with the child. Given her poor upbringing, and her tender age, it's no wonder that Kathryn Howard, bright though she was, made the choices that ultimately led to the headsman's block.
Sarah A. Hoyt shows us Kathryn Howard as the bright girl who was kept ignorant, perhaps so she could be better used as a pawn by her family -- who would stop at nothing to regain the power they had when Kathryn's cousin, Anne, had been Henry VIII's second wife.
Sarah A. Hoyt has used all the letters, forensics, and scholarship available to write a riveting, heart-wrenching story. Even though we know the ending, we travel to that fateful moment with Kathryn, completely in her thoughts and emotions.
Start reading it early -- otherwise you'll be up all night, because you won't want to put it down!