Captivating.

This book is a must read, it's such a thrilling tale and a new way to look at history. I give it a two thumbs up.

I loved this book. I am 12 years old and this is my first book that I have read of Philippa's Novels. This book was very exciting. I thought it was very compelling and I loved the way it did the narrator and then Katherine's point of view!!!!! I think some parts were more exciting than others though. I absolutely LOVE European history so I very much enjoyed this book. All in All this was a very good book.

I love Philippa Gregory. She gives me a story I can completely lose myself in, set in a historical context that not only tells me of that time period, but the implications of historical actions on the world we live in. Her books are clearly well-researched (because I've done some of my own research after becoming fascinated with her tale). I can't wait for her next offering. I hope it's about Isabel and Ferdinand - The Constant Princess's parents.

What can I say??
This book is an amazing insight to Catalina of Spain/Katherine of Aragon's life as she entered the arms of Wales, England....

Just like to three pervious entiles: The Other Boleyn Girl: The Queen's Fool: and The Constant Princess, this book tossed and drew me into the Tudor times..... Philippa Gregory is a definate must read author!!!

Although I am only 14, when I read this book it was hard and easy to understand at the same time. At first I was a bit sceptical about it, it's fiction right?? But no, it was soooo factual!!!

I urge others to read this book, it's passionate and not a time waster. ^_^

Oh, how delicious! This is historical FICTION. Emphasis on the word "fiction." While it is a historical account of Catalina, princess of Spain who becomes Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife and queen of England, there is liberal artistic license taken.

The facts are the bones of the book; the fiction is the flesh. And author Philippa Gregory, who is one of the leading novelists about this time period, melds the two brilliantly. The book alternates between a third-person story and the first-person thoughts of Catalina/Katherine.

This is the first in a series of novels about the Tudors. The story continues in the next book, "The Other Boleyn Girl," when the Bolelyn family (first Mary and then her sister, Anne) so devastatingly disrupt the marriage of the King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon and set in motion the birth of the Church of England.

If you enjoy the stories of the Tudors--I find it all quite enthralling--then this is a must-read.

I didn't find this book to be as gripping as The Other Boleyn Girl or The Boleyn Inheritance or for that matter any of the other Tudor Court / Cousins War novels. Maybe its just me, but I found this book to be a bit monotonous.