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The Last Wife of Henry VIII: A Novel
The Last Wife of Henry VIII: A Novel
The Last Wife of Henry VIII: A Novel
Audiobook12 hours

The Last Wife of Henry VIII: A Novel

Written by Carolly Erickson

Narrated by Terry Donnelly

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

From the luxuries of court to the last gory years of the outsize King Henry when heads rolled and England trembled, Catherine bestrode her destiny and survived to marry her true love. She was the least known of Henry VIII's six wives, but was the cleverest of them all.
Alluring, witty and resourceful, she attracted the king's lust and, though in love with the handsome Thomas Seymour, was thrown into the 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 a seventh wife. 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.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 1, 2006
ISBN9781593979881
Author

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.

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Reviews for The Last Wife of Henry VIII

Rating: 3.5478723452127663 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

188 ratings14 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Last Wife of Henry VIII is the story of Catherine Parr. Catherine's mother had been a lady in waiting to Katherine of Aragon, Henry's first Spanish wife. Catherine herself came to the court as lady in waiting to the wife of Fitzroy, the bastard son of Henry VIII. Catherine was married twice before being commanded to marry Henry VII. She outlived the King and remarried, giving birth to a daughter but dying of child bed fever several days after giving birth. Since I am a Tudor history fan, I found this book heavily fictionalized, in the respect that it did not too often display the accurate relationships that Catherine had with her step-children. All in all, though, I feel it was a time-worthy book. The court intrigue was delicious!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An Ahistorical novel. It is somewhat hard to believe that the person who wrote this was a historian. There are those who feel that if something is a novel, it licenses any deviation from known, or plausible, facts. I just want the reader to understand that this is not a very accurate look at Catherine Parr's life: it doesn't just invent things to fill in gaps in the record, it rewrites history. Obviously, the readers have to decide if this bothers them. I found it rather slow going and superficial, and considered not finishing it, but one could do worse if one was looking for a book to read on a plane.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Last Wife of Henry VIII is the story of Catherine Parr. Catherine's mother had been a lady in waiting to Katherine of Aragon, Henry's first Spanish wife. Catherine herself came to the court as lady in waiting to the wife of Fitzroy, the bastard son of Henry VIII. Catherine was married twice before being commanded to marry Henry VII. She outlived the King and remarried, giving birth to a daughter but dying of child bed fever several days after giving birth. Since I am a Tudor history fan, I found this book heavily fictionalized, in the respect that it did not too often display the accurate relationships that Catherine had with her step-children. All in all, though, I feel it was a time-worthy book. The court intrigue was delicious!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I gave this a better review than i really wanted to. Reasons being: While this is written as "historical fiction", it certainly leans more towards the "fiction" end of the spectrum. However, it is told in a fun, almost fluff sort of way; making it fun to listen to : Even the most novice of historians know the difference between a courtier and a court jester. Will Parr, brother to Katherine Parr, was not in any way a jester of the court. That would be the one and only Wil Somers, fool to Henry VIII; but again, I can overlook that ( just barely) becsuse the narration is lovely. All in all, not a bad book, alot of details that were changed with seemingly no reason to do so but told unless one already knows these things the story flows very well
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Easy to read & well written...but I swear I've read this before.... but it might have been some other book about Catherine Parr..... After a while they all run together.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting view of the antics of Henry VIII and each of his wives, from the POV of his last wife (Cat Parr) who was a part of the court from the beginning. Ms. Erickson does a remarkable job in not overly sensationalizing her characters - there was enough drama in the actual story without writing Catherine of Aragon as a saint or Anne Boleyn as a vicious whore/witch the way some authors do - she sticks to what the records shows and includes some opinions of these ladies but writes them as "servants gossip" not fact. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I absolutely could not put this down. I was a bit wary of reading it in the first place because I thought it to be a less interesting bit of Tudor history. However, I was really surprised by how the author told this story and the twists and turns it took. Yes, you know the general idea of what will happen but the journey was rather surprising and interesting. I would definitely recommend this book and as a matter of fact gave my copy to another historical fiction fan as soon as I finished it because I was so excited to share the book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    After having read many of Carolly Erickson's other historical fiction novels (and having tossed aside her novel on Josephine before finishing it just last week), I decided to try her foray into the popular Tudor fiction genre. Rather than exploring the dramatic events surrounding Anne Bolyen's ascension to Queen and Henry VIII's breaking with Rome, Erickson decided to tackle the last and least discussed of Henry's wives, Catherine Parr.We first meet young Catherine Parr at the age of seven, when he mother is trying to find a husband for her. After a chance meeting with the King, Catherine begins to learn of the perils of court life and the difficulties of being one of Henry's queens. Catherine is later married to Ned Burgh after begging the king to protect her from a marriage to Ned's elderly grandfather. After Ned dies, Catherine is eventually married to the ancient Lord Latimer and befriends his daughter. Meanwhile, Catherine spends time around the court, observing Henry as he ages and the relationships between him and each of his wives -and the horrible fates they all come to: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Bolyen, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard....Shortly after the death of wife number five, Catherine Parr, still married to Lord Latimer, is courted by Henry. After her husband dies, Catherine reluctantly marries Henry, and must hide her Protestant beliefs while dealing with the aging Henry.Though I found Erickson's writing style and storytelling abilities much improved from previous books, something was still a little lacking in The Last Wife of Henry VIII. Perhaps the book went by too fast, I mean, it felt like Henry's wife was different on every page, and time seemed to move so quickly I almost couldn't grasp onto it. I also found the character to be a little emotionally weak and flat. They really just didn't get me engaging, and I wasn't able to invest in any of the characters (even Catherine) so, honestly, I just didn't care enough. I also would have liked to have seem more time dedicated to Catherine's marriage to Henry. Though the actions leading up to it and afterwards are interesting, the novel is billed as a Henry VIII novel, so it just didn't deliver as mush on that front as I would have liked.Not as bad as some other reviews out there may say, The Last Wife of Henry VIII has its flaws, but its a decent, quick read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Erickson brings to life the story of the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII and uses new scholarship showing that Catherine’s first husband may have been a young, not an old man, though he still died a few years after the marriage. Catherine married a second time to the older John Latimer. Catherine was well known to the court of Henry and after the execution of Catherine Howard for adultery and Latimer’s death, Henry chose her to be his wife, a dubious honor at best. Catherine was probably already in love with the dashing and dangerous Thomas Seymour but she did her duty and served Henry well as wife. She had to outwit a plot to destroy her for her religious beliefs but she managed to survive and outlive Henry. Then she was finally free to marry Thomas.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I picked up Erickon’s The Last Wife of Henry VIII because Barnes and Noble had yet to receive that newest issue of Fangoria Magazine and I did not want to go home. I found myself at a shelf of historical fiction about the wives of kings, a simple endcap with about six books on it. I chose Erickson’s after reading the backs of a few-- I went for Erickson because she had a background in history, which I felt the book would benefit from.The Last Wife of Henry VIII is about Catherine Parr, the wife of King Henry VIII. She was the only one to escape death, exile and divorce at his hand. The novel follows Catherine through her life from girlhood to death. It recounts her four marriages, not all true to life, to Ned Burgh, John Neville, King Henry VIII, and finally Tom Seymour. Throughout the book, Catherine experiences much tragedy as she loses family, husbands, children, and homes. Always in the background is the King and his doings, told through the perspective of Catherine and other sources of information. Wives are disposed of one after the other and the King courts Catherine through the entire novel until their marriage. She does emotional battle and engages in struggles for power with relatives and other members of court, which causes her much distress and adds to the drama of the novel. Yes, this book gives Catherine Parr and very full, very exciting, and very dramatic life.I wasn’t too long into the book that I had to apply one of the most important historical fiction rules: when reading historical fiction, keep in mind that it’s not non-fiction and will therefore be less bound by the responsibility of accuracy and neutrality. Historical fiction may take as many liberties as it pleases to tell an interesting story, which Erickson certainly does in this novel. Historical fiction is usually based on the life of an important figure or on historical events, though not with the promise of total truth. Fiction is fiction, even with you tack on the word ‘historical’ in front of it. To anyone unfamiliar with Tudor history, the story flows easy. For anyone who knows a little something about the Tudors, some of the inaccuracies or displays of character are a bit unsettling. For example, Catherine did not marry young Ned Burgh, though Erickson writes that he was her one true love. Also, Tom Seymour did not try to usurp the crown through starting his own army and waging a personal war. These things are added for romantic and dramatic effect only. What especially annoyed me was that when married to Henry VIII, the novel Catherine Parr was silly and stupid enough to commit adultery. Clearly she had not been paying enough attention when other wives were executed for that very crime. It seemed out of character that such an intelligent and steady headed woman would give in to something so dangerous and, well, stupid. Was this a good book? Yes. I couldn’t put it down. The drama was great, the romances were hot, and the intrigues were very intriguing. I enjoyed the book and hope to find more of Erickson’s works. Fortunately, while I enjoy picking through historical fiction and determining its accuracy, I don’t get upset or overly bothered when a book is very inaccurate.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An Ahistorical novel. It is somewhat hard to believe that the person who wrote this was a historian. There are those who feel that if something is a novel, it licenses any deviation from known, or plausible, facts. I just want the reader to understand that this is not a very accurate look at Catherine Parr's life: it doesn't just invent things to fill in gaps in the record, it rewrites history. Obviously, the readers have to decide if this bothers them. I found it rather slow going and superficial, and considered not finishing it, but one could do worse if one was looking for a book to read on a plane.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is interesting, simply because the life of Catherine Parr had such interesting connections and troubles; the Alma Mahler of her day. She was a downwardly mobile descendent of the Plantagenet line through John of Gaunt, thus having royal blood, though it imparted little power to her. Marrying Henry VIII after attending the execution of two of his wives, could not have been a very enticing prospect. Obviously, she did not have much choice in the matter.The author has created a reasonable, but certainly not compelling narrative. Were it not for my curiosity about Catherine Parr, I might have found this a slow read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This was a silly book. Readable fluff--I kept turning pages and it never felt like a chore, but 'twas a silly book. Katherine Parr, the Wonder Queen! According to this book, KP was present for every major point of Tudor history, and was years ahead of her time with regards to politics, feminism, and learning. This read a bit like fan fic.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gripping tale of political intrigue about Henry VIII’s many loves. Catherine Parr, the last and sixth wife of the King, attracts the King’s lust but is in love with another man. She manages to evade execution but ultimately dies from complications surrounding childbirth.