I'm a bit of a sucker for historical fiction and have been meaning to read Philippa Gregory for a while now. The book is clearly very well-researched and I learned a lot about 16th century Spain from it.

As a character, Katherine drew me in despite knowing how it would ultimately end for her, alone and poor, disregarded. The book doesn't take us there thankfully, it ends as she is about to give her testimony before the Papal Legate court convened to hear "The King's Great Matter". What we do experience is her years of widowhood before marriage to Henry. I had no idea how it had been for her. This, coupled with her early life as Catalina, Infanta of Spain, fascinated me.

The only criticism I have is that reading the long passages in italics (for Katherine's internal monologues) got a little wearisome. Other than that, if you like historical fiction then you will probably enjoy this novel. ( )

It was alright. Not good. Not bad. ( )

Everyone knows who Katherine of Aragon is. She's the first "Divorced" in the Tudor rhyme. I knew a lot about her life while she was Queen of England but very little before that. We're introduced to Katherine in Gregory's book The King's Curse, but here, we get up close and personal with the princess, her poverty, and her supposed passion for the first Tudor prince, Arthur.

I LIKED this book. I tried to like more of it because Katherine is such a fascinating woman, and I'm genuinely curious about what happened between her and Arthur historically. She's driven, cunning, and resourceful but also vulnerable with her own needs and disappointments. Gregory showed us this woman, but this woman was sometimes lost in the noise of Katherine's whining about how much she loves Arthur. Girl, you were with him for 5 months tops. You're trying to tell me he was the greatest love of her life? That everything she did was because of a deathbed promise to him?

It cheapened her. I fully support women falling in love and going after the men they want (Three Sisters, Three Queens does this fabulously), but Katherine was stripped of all personality except for Arthur. There were a couple throwaway lines near the end about how this was secretly her ambition all along, but I don't buy it. Too busy getting hammered over the head with Arthur. It's such a shame because there was so much rich, material here.

Regardless of this fault, the story was still well-written, and you can sympathize with Katherine of the pages she isn't talking about Arthur. When she resists Henry VII, survives poverty, starts to fall for Henry, and becomes regent and fights the Scots you see a brilliant woman and the descendant of Isabella of Castile. You just have to go looking for her sometimes. ( )

Addition to my TBR from a bookcrossing meeting

I will willingly admit that my knowledge of certain periods of history are lax to say the least: I know that Katherine of Aragon was married to King Henry VIII’s brother Arthur. After Arthur’s death, still aged 16, she became Henry’s first wife, only to be usurped by Anne Boleyn. What has been missing are the small details of how that marriage could be arranged, against the rules set out in the bible (Leviticus 20: Verse 21: If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.).


The book is split into 4 parts: the first being Caterina’s (Catherine’s) childhood and marriage to Arthur, Henry’s olderbrother. In this book, Caterina and Arthur are madly in love as he dies, the marriage has been consummated, and it is her promise to Arthur as much as anything that drives the following decisions she makes. Part 2 covers the years between Arthur’s death and her marriage to Henry 6 years later. Part 3 is her second marriage until Henry and Catherine’s coronation; Part 4 are the following few years as Catherine becomes queen, only for her position to be undermined by the multiple miscarriages along withe the developing threats of her husband’s wandering eye (in particular Anne Boleyn).

It is Catherine’s childhood following her parents around Spain that influences her later ability to rule England (suppressing the Scots) whilst Henry is in France. Her strength in war, combined with an almost fervent belief in the Catholic faith – and that her actions are defined by God – are continually foremost in her mind.
katherine of aragonKatherine of Aragon

Whilst pregnant for the first time, she realises that there are no decent doctors in western Europe, as the only ones who know anything (Jews and Moors) have been driven out by her parents. When she does find a moorish doctor to consult, it has to be in secret, and she realises he is the only one she can trust to tell her the truth. When she later defends England successfully against the Scots, she has the opportunity to decimate the Scottish lands after the Scottish King has been destroyed, only chooses not to.

Finally, the book jumps forward approx 16 years, where Katherine is preparing herself to face her husband and accusers who wish to pronounce her marriage invalid so that Henry can marry Anne. It is this act, and the political machinations behind it, that lead to the break with Rome and the setting up of the Church Of England.

There are two voices in this book – that of the standard 3rd party narrative, interspersed with a first person narrative of Katherine herself. The 3rd person was more successful I thought, and I did tire of the relentless, occasional multiple page italicised first person narrative of Catherine, and ended up skimming much. However, the very short, one liners, were very effective, so wonder if this tool could have been used to better effect? Overall however, I enjoyed the book, and it was a decent addition to a missing gap in my historical narrative

I loved this book. A beautiful mix of history lesson and story telling. A fascinating woman with strength and determination. ( )