The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII
by Linda Porter
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Readers' rating:
Published Nov 2010
400 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
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
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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.
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