The Last Wife of Henry VIII

Description

From the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette comes a powerful new novel about Catherine Parr, The Last Wife of Henry VIII.
The least known of Henry VIII’s six wives was the cleverest of them all. Alluring, witty, and resourceful, she attracted the king’s lust and, though much in love with the handsome Thomas Seymour, was thrown into the intrigue-filled snakepit of the royal court. While victims of the king’s wrath suffered torture and execution, Catherine withstood the onslaught, even when Henry sought to replace her with wife number seven. She survived her royal husband, and found happiness with Seymour—but it was shadowed by rivalry with the young Princess Elizabeth, whose affection Seymour coveted. Catherine won the contest, but at great cost.

Courageous, romantic, intelligent: Catherine Parr became the sixth wife of Henry VIII and her story, as Carolly Erickson recreates it, is riveting drama

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of Rival to the Queen, The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, The First Elizabeth, The Hidden Life of Josephine, and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Tsarina’s Daughter won the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. She lives in Hawaii.

1.) How does the character of Henry VIII change from his dashing, athletic young manhood at the Field of Cloth of Gold to his final years?
2.) Was Catherine Parr’s high intelligence a help or a hindrance to her in surviving at the court of Henry VIII?
3.) Do you think Tom Seymour really loved Catherine, or was he merely using her to advance himself?
4.) In what ways were the lives of women at the Tudor court severely restricted? In what ways were they given latitude?
5.) Do you think Catherine Parr was a victim of her era or transcended it through her force of will?
6.) Which of Henry VIII’s wives, as described in this novel, did you like best? Which did you respect most?
7.) Do you think Catherine Parr was a good stepmother, or merely a well-meaning one?
8.) Why did everyone (except Tom Seymour) dislike the young Elizabeth? Was it only because her mother was the disgraced Anne Boleyn, or were there other motivations?
9.) Overall, do you think Catherine Parr had a happy life? If not, how would you characterize her life?
10.) Would you have liked to live at the court of Henry VIII?

“[Erickson] engages with this fictionalized, first-person life of Catherine Parr, who actually survived marriage to the dangerous and mercurial Henry Tudor…and who is arguably his most interesting bride.” —Publishers Weekly“Offers a good view of the intrigue and scheming in the court of Henry VIII.” —Library Journal“I read The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette in two days, and when I finished it, I reread the final pages, as hungry for more as a child scraping the last crumbs of chocolate cake off her plate with her fingers.” —Judith Warner, The New York Times Book Review, on The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette“[A] fascinating first novel . . . This intimate look at a misunderstood woman by the author of a biography on the same subject is highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review) on The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette

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