The Unfaithful Queen, Carolly Erickson
The Unfaithful Queen, Carolly Erickson
1 Rating(s)
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The Unfaithful Queen
A Novel of Henry VIII's Fifth Wife

Author: Carolly Erickson

Narrator: Stina Nielsen

Unabridged: 10 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/11/2012

Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author of The Last Wife of Henry VIII, a novel about Catherine Howard, wife of Henry's later years

Amid the turbulent, faction-ridden late reign of the fearsome Henry, eager high-spirited Catherine Howard caught the king's eye—but not before she had been the sensual plaything of at least three other men. Ignorant of her past, seeing only her youthful exuberance and believing that she could make him happy, he married her—only to discover, too late, that her heart belonged to his gentleman usher Tom Culpeper.

As the net of court intrigue tightens around her, and with the Tudor succession yet again in peril because of Prince Edward's severe illness, Queen Catherine struggles to give the angry, bloated and impotent king a son. But when her relations turn against her, she finds herself doomed, just as her cousin Anne Boleyn was, to face the executioner.

The Unfaithful Queen lays bare the dark underbelly of the Tudor court, with its sugared rivalries and bitter struggles for power, where a girl of noble family could find herself sent to labor among the turnspits in the kitchens or—should fortune favor her—be exalted to the throne.

About Carolly Erickson

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, The Last Wife of Henry VIII, 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by M.M. Strawberry on June 10, 2020

This book is historical fiction. The key word here being fiction. I read several of the author's biographies, and thought I'd try one of her novels. This was... ok. Some of the scenes and details felt like they were just added for shock value, to make history seem exciting to the reader. I get that t......more

Goodreads review by lacy on October 20, 2018

tw: derogatory slang toward women, sexist remarks, graphic descriptions of death and murder This was an okay book. Wasn't great by any means but I enjoyed it somewhat. This book did make me excited for Allison Weir's book about Catherine Howard. But that was about the only thing I really took away fr......more

Goodreads review by Monica on November 15, 2012

Like the other works in his Erickson's "entertainments" this one is fun, fast paced read. Fans of Tudor fiction know how Catherine Howard's story ends. A young girl married to an old, cranky, and ill man is never going to end well. And when the old, cranky, man is the King Henry VIII, it will end ve......more

Goodreads review by Kathleen on February 11, 2013

I enjoyed this book to an extent. Erickson gives Catherine a voice and a personality that explain her actions while a girl and then Queen without resorting to the standard "she was fifteen and stupid" explanation. I did have some quarrels with the material: it wasn't historically accurate (which the......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth(The Book Whisperer) on January 11, 2014

I love,love, love Tudor books! This one did not disappoint. It showed Catherine Howard in a more sensitive light. It is always interesting to see the different points of view this historical fiction novels can have.......more

Quotes

“The Favored Queen amply demonstrates, there is no trust among Tudors. A delectable serving of Tudor dish.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Carolly Erickson turns cold fact to hot fiction.” —India Edghill, author of Wisdom's Daughter

“I read The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette in two days, and when I finished it, I re-read the final pages, as hungry for more as a child scraping the last crumbs of chocolate cake off her plate with her fingers.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Rollicking good, admittedly unhistorical, fun-complete with all the dish on the great and powerful, and what they wore, that an Empire-waisted fashionista could desire.” —Kirkus Reviews

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