A NIGHT OWL REVIEWS BOOK REVIEW | Reviewed by: Danya
Katherine Parr is best known for being the last wife/nurse of Henry VIII, but there was much more to this interesting and intriguing woman. She was 31 years old when she married the king, had been married and widowed twice, and was one of the first, if not the first, published female English writers. She survived a coup attempt to end her marriage to King Henry VIII and possibly her life by utilizing the charm and intelligence that won her Henry's attention to begin with. Then just a few scant months after his death, Katherine remarried to Sir Thomas Seymour.
This biography by Linda Porter examines one of the least known but most interesting women in English history. In just a few short years, Henry completely changed the face of English religion and government forever, and Katherine's life was central to it all. This book is a must read to anyone who his a history buff and a welcome addition to any biography lover's book shelf.
Jan 10, 2011 | 9780312384388
5 - Rare Top Pick | 4.5 - Top Pick | 4 - I Liked It | 3.5 - Enjoyable | 3 - OK | 2.5 - It just didn't click
Book Blurb for Katherine the Queen
The general perception of Katherine Parr is that she was a provincial nobody with intellectual pretensions who became queen of England because the king needed a nurse as his health declined. Yet the real Katherine Parr was attractive, passionate, ambitious, and highly intelligent. Thirty-years-old (younger than Anne Boleyn had been) when she married the king, she was twice widowed and held hostage by the northern rebels during the great uprising of 1536-37 known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Her life had been dramatic even before she became queen and it would remain so after Henry’s death. She hastily and secretly married her old flame, the rakish Sir Thomas Seymour, and died shortly after giving birth to her only child in September 1548. Her brief happiness was undermined by the very public flirtation of her husband and step-daughter, Princess Elizabeth. She was one of the most influential and active queen consorts in English history, and this is her story.
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