-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII
by Linda Porter
The general perception of Katherine Parr is that she was a provincial nobody with intellectual pretensions who became queen of England because the king needed a nurse as his health declined. Yet the real Katherine Parr was attractive, passionate, ambitious, and highly intelligent. Thirty-years-old (younger than Anne Boleyn had been) when she married the king, she was twice widowed and held hostage by the northern rebels during the great uprising of 1536-37 known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.
Her life had been dramatic even before she became queen and it would remain so after Henry’s death. She hastily and secretly married her old flame, the rakish Sir Thomas Seymour, and died shortly after giving birth to her only child in September 1548. Her brief happiness was undermined by the very public flirtation of her husband and step-daughter, Princess Elizabeth. She was one of the most influential and active queen consorts in English history, and this is her story.
"Starred Review. Rich, perceptive, nuanced and creative, this first full-scale biography gives one of Britain's best but least-known queens her due." - Publishers Weekly
"[Porter] has set out to provide us with a fresh perspective on this intelligent, ambitious, and resilient woman, the consort who outlived Henry...Readers with an interest in women's history and/or Tudor England should find this biography a refreshing and gratifying read." - Library Journal
"A rich narrative, but generous to a fault." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about Katherine the Queen was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Linda Porter has a Ph.D. in history from the University of York, England. She was the winner of the 2004 Biographers Club/Daily Mail prize in England and is the author of The Myth of "Bloody Mary", also available from St. Martin's Press. She is married with one daughter and lives near London.
If you liked Katherine the Queen, try these:
by Lucy Cooke
Published 2023
A fierce, funny, and revolutionary look at the queens of the animal kingdom.
by Catherine Chung
Published 2020
In The Tenth Muse, Catherine Chung offers a gorgeous, sweeping tale about legacy, identity, and the beautiful ways the mind can make us free.
The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
by C.W. Gortner
Published 2011
From the fairy-tale châteaux of the Loire Valley to the battlefields of the wars of religion to the mob-filled streets of Paris, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici is the extraordinary untold journey of one of the most maligned and misunderstood women ever to be queen.
Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
