The Last Wife of Henry VIII

A book about one of the few wives to survive Henry VII's love~

Summary (from Goodreads.com): Courageous, attractive, romantic, intelligent, Catherine Parr became the sixth wife of Henry VIII. Her story, as Carolly Erickson re-creates it, is page-turning drama: from the splendors of the Field of the Cloth of Gold to the gory last years of the outsize King Henry, when heads rolled and England trembled, Catherine bestrode her destiny and survived to marry her true love.

Catherine Parr attracted the king’s lust and, though much in love with the handsome Thomas Seymour, was thrown into the intrigue-filled snake pit of the royal court. While victims of the king’s wrath suffered torture and execution, Catherine persevered—until, at last, she came within the orbit of the royal fury. King Henry toyed with her, first ordering her arrested, then granting her clemency. She managed to evade execution, but she knew that the king had his wandering eye fixed on wife number seven.

She was spared by his death and married the attractive but dangerously unbalanced Seymour. Her triumph was shadowed by rivalry with the young Princess Elizabeth, whose lands and influence the lecherous Seymour coveted. Catherine won the contest, but at great cost.

A young Katherine Parr

Review: Of all of Henry's wives, Catherine Parr is the one I know the least about.  I always figured she just sort of kept him busy in his final years and led a fairly uneventful life with him.

According to this book though her life was nothing but one drama after another.  There are a lot of comments on Goodreads about how inaccurate the historical details are of this book so it's hard for me to know now, just how eventful was Catherine Parr's life?

Just as a fictional story on it own, this is a fun a read.  There are characters to love and several to hate (that's right Thomas Seymour, I'm talking about you!).  Also, Ms. Erickson does show some of our favourite Tudor characters from a perspective that is just slightly different than what we usually see, like Catherine Howard.  Usually she's just portrayed as a silly sex crazed teenager, but in this book she's given a bit more common sense, not much, but enough to make you wonder if there was possibly a method to her madness.

Inaccuracies aside, I enjoyed this book.  For some reason the Tudor stories never get old, and now that I've been thoroughly introduced to Ms. Parr, I think I might delve into her story a bit more.  After all, there are just so many times you can read about the other 5 wives and their crazy kids~

Check out this blog.  The blogger visited Hampton Court on the
500 year anniversary of  Henry's ascension to the throne.  Shows
at the castle depicted life with all of your favourite characters of the day.
 Sounds so fun!

Which of Henry's wives is your favourite to read about?  I think I still like the little trouble makers, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.  There was never a dull moment with those two.  Leave a comment and tell us yours~