Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

For this tale of Henry’s youngest queen, Weir takes us back to 1528 to meet Katheryn, who as the fifth daughter of the impoverished Lord Edmund Howard and his deceased wife Joyce Culpeper finds herself at a very tender age sent into the care of her father’s formidable stepmother, Agnes Howard, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. While basic provision is made for clothes and education she is largely forgotten on the Dowager Duchess’ large estate, that is teeming with dozens of attendants and other poor wards.

However the lively, beautiful young woman that Katheryn grows into does not go unnoticed by the men around her and, as hope dies of an appointment at court or an advantageous marriage, she embarks on a string of inappropriate and doomed love affairs with older men. This first half of the book was slow going for me, as it is very repetitive in terms of Katheryn’s thoughts and actions. Plus after the 4th, 12th, 20th not-so-secret sexual tryst with one of her lovers, I REALLY had got the point.

So I rejoiced with Katheryn, when an escape from her torrid affairs and the longed for appointment to court is offered by her ambitious uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, who is looking for a new, pretty Howard to dangle before the king. Henry is instantly captured by the youth, beauty and joy of Katheryn, as she delights in all the pleasures of being at court: singing, dancing, gowns, jewels and games. The king tells the world she is his rose without a thorn, quickly, putting aside his disappointing German bride, Anna to make Katheryn is wife instead.

But those who gather roses must beware of thorns, because as we know Katheryn has a past of which Henry knows nothing of. It is not long before faces from her past come back to haunt her and the enemies of the power-hungry Howards come circling like wolves. Snatching at any gossip or rumour until they are able to bring her tumbling down, only a year into her marriage, to share the same tragic fate as her cousin, Anne Boleyn.

As with the earlier books, Weir had me choked up by the end of this book. This was definitely a return to form for Weir’s writing: effortlessly blending history and her own imagination. And while I often didn’t like or approve of Katheryn’s choices, I could sympathise with what was a very young, naïve and poorly educated woman put in dangerous situations by her family. Also, even though the abundant sexual content of this tale was not to my taste it did highlight, even more starkly, how Katheryn was used and abused, particularly by the men in her life.

Overall, I thought Katheryn Howard, The Tainted Queen was a beautiful written historical-fiction, that may have started off as a slow burner for me, but by the second half I was gripped and I raced through it to the bitter end.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

Alison Weir is a master of the historical novel. Although you are reading what feels like a fictional story, you know that the research behind them is sound, and that lends a real poignancy to what you are reading. Katheryn was such a young girl when she married Henry, and the story of her life is in many ways quite hard to read, because we know the awful consequences of the games that she plays. Weir depicts Kathryn as very much a wayward child, full of joy and with a lust for life that ultimately leads to her untimely death. Reading a book like this really brings history to life, and this whole series has been wonderful.

I love Alison Weir's non-fiction books as they're well researched and easy to read so I was intrigued by her fictional offerings focusing on the wives of Henry VIII. I'm pleased to say these are just as successful and this latest instalment is beautiful.

I wanted to read this book because I knew very little about Henry VIII’s 5th wife, except that she was beheaded on the grounds that she had committed adultery and treason.

Having read it, I don’t think I know much more, except that Katheryn Howard comes across as a very shallow character, obsessed with sex, with luxury in all its forms, naive and easily manipulated. Alison Weir excels in her descriptive writing, bringing the Tudor court to life in all of its settings, locations, clothes and jewellery.

It has glowing reviews on Amazon full of praise and it is based on extensive research. Clearly other people love this book, but I didn’t. For me it came across as a romance novel, primarily focused on Katheryn’s imagined thoughts, emotions, and sexual encounters. It is simply written, but with too many cliches and modernised text.

Alison Weir’s Author’s Note is much more interesting than her novel, in which she acknowledges her sources, including Dr. Nicola Tallis’ unpublished DPhil thesis, All the Queen’s Jewels, 1445 – 1548, and a number of biographies of Katheryn Howard. She refers to original sources she used as the basis of the book – contemporary writers and wills, portraits showing her rich clothes and jewellery – jewels that have been tentatively identified in Katheryn Howard’s inventory.

She used these sources for the narrative of the book, weaving them into the dialogue and modernising the speech ‘where Tudor English looks out of place in a modern text.’ She states that ‘apart from fictionalising the historical record’ she has invented very little.’ There is also a Dramatis Personae, usefully indicating which characters are fictional and a Timeline, which is also very useful.

I think the Author’s Note is the best part of the book. There is rather too much of ‘fictionalising the historical record’ for me in the novel. I don’t like writing about a book I didn’t enjoy when I know so much work has gone into it and clearly other people have loved it. But this is just my opinion, for what it is worth.

With thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers for my review copy.

Alison Weir's continues her series fictionalising the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII with the really very sad story of Katheryn Howard. Manipulated by her ever ambitious family into marrying Henry despite her questionable past and attachment to another she was inevitably doomed. For me it's always the worst of the crimes committed by the Tudor court against Henry's wives.

Weir tells the story with depth and authenticity. Does she take liberties with history? Well actually not that much. Been fiction obviously she fills in with imagined conversations but nothing feels stretched. This isn't The Crown! It's always worth reading/listening to the authors notes at the end of these but the notes in this book in particular are very interesting.A great addition to the series, I'm feeling rather sad there is only one more left to read.

I do not often read historical fiction but this book grabbed my attention right from the beginning. I enjoyed that it told the story of Katherine Howard’s life from a very young age. This helped me to understand why she was a complex person and also reminds you how young she was when she married. I thoroughly recommend this book and I am now looking forward to reading the others in the series.

Alison Weir has researched this book in minute detail - as usual..
We are privy to Katheryn Howard's early life and her marriage to King Henry VIII. I felt pity for this young woman who was merely a pawn in political aspirations.of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to lovers of historical based fiction.
Thank you Alison Weir, the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give my unbiased opinion.

Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen is the fifth book in Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series. I’ve read all the previous books with the exception of Anna of Kleve which is patiently waiting on my bookshelf. Perhaps conscious of previous criticism, Alison Weir writes in her Author’s Note, “Apart from fictionalising the historical record, I have invented very little.” The result is a convincing account of the character traits and events that led to Katheryn Howard’s tragic end.

Written in the first person, the reader gets a picture of a naive young woman who lacks the awareness or guidance to realise how the foolish mistakes she makes whilst in the household of the Duchess of Norfolk will come back to haunt her. The author depicts a surprisingly licentious atmosphere amongst the young men and women of the household with frequent midnight “feasts” that don’t only involve food. Katheryn is drawn into this activity, conducting affairs with firstly her music tutor and then with Francis Dereham. If the book is an accurate reflection of the amount of sexual activity taking place, given the primitive methods of contraception available it’s surprising no pregnancies ensued.

I confess I struggled to maintain my interest in this section of the book with its accounts of nightly youthful indiscretions. And I found some of the writing rather laughable. Examples such as “Pulling down his hose, he entered her and rode her like a stallion” or “For answer, he took her hand and guided it inside his codpiece”. However, during this period an important exchange takes place between Katheryn and Francis, the effect of which will prove pivotal later.

Because of her youth and beauty, Katheryn becomes a valuable pawn in the hands of her Howard relatives, who seek both power and the restoration of the Catholic faith. She is dangled in front of the King in an effort to encourage him to divorce Anna of Kleve. Katheryn goes along with this out of gratitude to them for rescuing her from a life of relative poverty and because she is dazzled by the thought of becoming queen. “The prospect thrilled her, colouring everything else.” The idea of being shown deference, wearing gorgeous clothes and jewellery, living in splendid palaces, having servants dancing attendance on her and obeying her every whim is irresistible. I could actually see how the opulence of court life would turn a young girl’s head. Despite her disappointment at her first sight of the now ageing and obese Henry, she concludes: “She could do it if she had to. For the first time, she knew herself to be as ambitious as the rest of her family. If submitting to the King’s desires was the price of her elevation, she would pay it.”

Although Henry’s eagerness to marry Katheryn is undoubtedly driven by lust and the need to secure the succession, in the author’s hands the reader sees a real tenderness develop between the two. For me, this part of the book, describing the relationship between Katheryn and Henry, and detailing daily life at Court or whilst on progress around the country was one of the most fascinating and compelling.

Despite everything she has achieved, the King’s obvious devotion to her and the example set by the demise of Anne Boleyn, Katheryn foolishly sets out on a course of action that will ultimately result in her downfall and death. It left me thinking “You silly, silly girl” especially when she fails to see how she is being manipulated or, at best, being given extremely poor advice.

This is the point where the limitations of the author’s decision to write in the first person become evident. As she herself admits in her Author’s Note, because the reader is never privy to the thoughts of Henry, it is impossible to explore the possibility that he did not want Katheryn to be condemned to death. The author points to signs of his initial leniency, such as the fact she was not sent directly to the Tower of London, arguing that he may have been influenced by reformers on his Council who seized the opportunity to remove a Catholic queen and bring down the Howards in one fell swoop.

One very interesting point Alison Weir makes, which is unknown to Katheryn and therefore to the reader as well – because we only know what she knows – is that she might have saved her life if she had admitted to a pre-contract with Dereham. As Alison explains, “If she had never been the King’s legal wife, she could not be accused of adultery, only bigamy, with the second marriage being rendered invalid. Bigamy was seen as a spiritual offence…it did not become a felony until 1604.” For me, this made the final chapters all the more poignant.

Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series aims to retell, in fictional form, the stories of all six of Henry VIII’s wives. This is the fifth book in the series so, as you would expect, the focus is on the fifth wife, Katheryn Howard. Having enjoyed the first three – on Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour – I had been slightly disappointed by the one on Anne of Cleves, but I’m pleased to say that I thought this latest book was a return to form.

When Henry VIII sets aside Anne of Cleves and takes nineteen-year-old Katheryn Howard as his next wife, he believes her to be pure, innocent and virtuous, qualities he values highly in a woman. Telling her she is his ‘rose without a thorn’, he is delighted with his young bride and looks forward to her producing another son to secure his lineage. But what Henry doesn’t know is that Katheryn has had more experience with men than he has been led to believe.

Katheryn is surprised to find that, despite the age difference, she is becoming genuinely fond of her obese and ailing husband. The man she really loves, however, is Thomas Culpeper, one of the King’s courtiers, whom she continues to meet in secret even knowing that if they are discovered both of their lives could be in danger. Then there’s Francis Dereham, with whom she was sexually involved before her marriage to the King; Francis won’t leave her alone, insisting that she had been pre-contracted to marry him before she ever met Henry, and Katheryn lives in fear of the King hearing of their relationship.

Of course, history tells us that Katheryn (as Alison Weir chooses to spell her name) will fail to keep her past a secret, that her love affairs with Dereham and Culpeper will become public knowledge and that she will face the same fate as her cousin, Anne Boleyn – but that doesn’t mean there is no tension in this retelling of her story. We know from the start that Katheryn is doomed and we have to watch her make one mistake after another, choose the wrong people to trust and head irreversibly down a path which will lead her to the scaffold. Despite knowing what will eventually happen, though, we are kept in suspense waiting for the moment when she will be betrayed and her secrets will be revealed to Henry.

The novel sticks closely to the known facts of Katheryn Howard’s life; although obviously there are some areas where Weir has to use her imagination or make decisions as to how certain things should be interpreted, she doesn’t seem to invent large chunks of the story as she did in Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets. I suppose Katheryn’s life is more well documented than Anne of Cleves’ and already dramatic enough without the need for too much invention.

Although Katheryn is frustratingly naive and reckless, I did have a lot of sympathy for her. A lot of time is spent discussing her early life before her marriage to Henry, when she lived in the household of her father’s stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. The household included several other young women who were also wards of the Duchess and it seems that there was very little supervision and discipline; Katheryn appears to have been easily influenced and sometimes even encouraged by the other girls to behave in a way that would have been seen as promiscuous in the 16th century. Because of the nature of Katheryn’s story, there is a lot of focus on her sex life and her liaisons with various men and this does become a little bit repetitive and tedious at times, but I still found it a more compelling read than the previous book in the series.

I am looking forward to the final novel, which isn’t available yet, but which I’m assuming will be about Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife.

Fab read. Informative and engaging. A first read by this author but definitely so t be the last.
Highly recommend this one.

Katheryn Howard was so young when she died that I was surprised by the length of this book, I didn't expect there to be so much to be able to write but Weir has used her extensive research of Katheryn and the Tudor era to bring life to a young Katheryn.

I loved reading about what her life as a young girl may have been like before she she went to court. The book shapes Katheryn through her experiences as a young girl and how events may have impacted her and perhaps even led to her eventual downfall.

I have always felt Katheryn is portrayed usually as a flirtatious young girl who only cares about her own pleasures and enjoyment but this book changes those preconceptions and shines a whole new light on Katheryn as a caring, naive lady who is taken advantage of by numerous people including her own family.

It is beautifully written and the vivid descriptives of the clothing, jewels and court are fabulous.

Alison Weir has managed to bring to life Katheryn Howard with this book. It is obvious the amount of research that has gone into writing this story.
The book covers her early life, her arrival at court and her marriage to King Henry VIII. It also tells of her other lovers and how they were her downfall.. What you do understand from the book is that she was just a woman who loved to love and be loved.
If you like historical fiction then you will love this book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review

I loved The Tainted Queen. Alison Weir has an astonishing talent for bringing people to life, combining historical fact with an incredible knowledge of human nature. Every character feels as though they are standing beside you as you read and her descriptions really bring you into the world of Henry VIII's court. She calls to attention how very young Katheryn Howard was, how lost she could have felt in her new role and it is heartbreaking to read when we already know how her story ends.

Mesmerising!

Katheryn Howard seemed to attract the attention of much older men right from an early age. Child abuse is the only way to describe the liberties that they took with her. Having lost her mother at an early age, she was sent to live with relatives after her feckless father used and abused his standing, eventually gambling away everything he owned. Katheryn finally ended up with her wealthy step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

There were several young ladies under the care of the Duchess, and they were taught everything that was needed for a Tudor lady of noble descent, to be looked upon on as marriageable material. Katheryn would have needed as much help as she could, as there was to be no dowry for her future husband, her father having squandered away the family fortune.

The girls had a chaperone, but she was rather lax in her duties, and they were left very much to their own devices. This allowed much older men of the Court to meet up with Katheryn and the other girls, in their chambers at night. Katheryn (after some reluctance) became quite the flirt, having dalliances with more than one man, however, when she later catches the eye of King Henry VIII, her past would prove to be her undoing. Henry was notoriously easy to enrage as he got older.

The King’s household, the royal court, was the political and cultural centre of the nation, and despite the risks, anyone who was anyone, wanted to be there. At court, patronage and favour was given to those who pleased the monarch, and (as history demonstrates) taken away from those who did not. Sometimes with tragic consequences!

What a fascinating and detailed account Alison Weir has provided, it’s intelligent, informative, and quite simply unmissable!

I'm a long time fan of Alison Weir's nonfiction so I jumped at the chance to read another ARC in this series. Unfortunately this book missed the mark for me. I had hoped that a new perspective on Katheryn Howard's story may out, though understandably the author is limited by available facts. I just felt very let down by a fairly unremarkable bodice ripper of a romance novel. The instances also of questionable dialogue left me with the opinion that I prefer the rigorous research and more serious work that Weir is capable of and in fact my favourite part of the book came in the author's own words when she helpfully cited sources and references that helped shape her novel. I was delighted to be back on more familiar ground however briefly, and despite this not being to my particular taste I'm sure fans of this genre will appreciate something more accessible written by an acknowledged authority on the period.

I loved this book, as much, if not more, than her previous ones in the series. I love the balance of pre-Henry, Henry and post-Henry times of her life. You know a historical fiction book is good when you know the end but you're still whipped up to hope that it ends happily ever after.

I have absolutely loved this series of books - Weir is able to bring these women out of the shadow of Henry VIII and into their own light - but feel that I haven't really bonded with this one as much as the others. Maybe I felt this was a slightly missed opportunity to make Katheryn Howard as something more than a manipulated young woman at the mercy of her own passions. I was interested in the way that she was no worse than any other young woman at court (nothing compared to the vision we sometimes get of Anne Boleyn perhaps) but had to be a paragon of virtue once she caught the eye of the King. (She is also a very modern-feeling girl - falling in and out of love with regularity) Maybe my dissatisfaction was that the very Katheryn's-eye view doesn't allow us to understand the sheer folly of her elders (her uncle and grandmother) who should surely have known that a queen must be beyond reproach....

Intriguing and interesting and really well written. I love historical fiction and I really enjoyed this book. Katheryn’s life was so short and her death was so tragic. It was intriguing to read about her life and what led to her death. This is the first book that I have read in this series and I will definitely be reading more of them.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.