Product Description

From the pen of legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy comes an unforgettable true story of
royalty, passion, and innocence lost.

Born into an impoverished branch of the noble Howard family, young Katherine is plucked from her home to live with her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk. The innocent girl quickly learns that her grandmother’s puritanism is not shared by Katherine’s free-spirited cousins, with whom she lives. Beautiful and impressionable, Katherine becomes involved in two ill-fated love affairs before her sixteenth birthday. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, she leaves her grandmother’s home to become a lady-in-waiting at the court of Henry VIII. The royal palaces are exciting to a young girl from the country, and Katherine ?nds that her duties there allow her to be near her handsome cousin, Thomas Culpepper, whom she has loved since childhood.

But when Katherine catches the eye of the aging and unhappily married king, she is forced to abandon her plans for a life with Thomas and marry King Henry. Overwhelmed by the change in her fortunes, bewildered and flattered by the adoration of her husband, Katherine is dazzled by the royal life. But her bliss is short-lived as rumors of her wayward past come back to haunt her, and Katherine’s destiny takes another, deadly, turn.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124322 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-24
• Released on: 2003-06-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780609810170
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Inside Flap
"I DIE A QUEEN, BUT I WOULD RATHER DIE THE WIFE OF THOMAS CULPEPPER."
If Katherine Howard had not been born both poor and beautiful, or had she not been adopted by her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, she might indeed have wed her childhood playmate, Thomas Culpepper.
But left to run wild in her grandmother's licentious household, Katherine was introduced to secret pleasures. And as she grew in years and beauty, she was made to serve the political ambitions of her powerful uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. When the aging King Henry VIII, desperate for a strong male heir, chose Katherine as his fifth wife, her tragic destiny was sealed.
In this dazzling finale to the Queens of England series, Henry VIII's lovely "rose without a thorn" tells her own heartbreaking story of betrayed innocence and passion, and the brief years of glory that brought her to the block....

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Scribe

SHE IS YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL and very frightened.

She said to me: "It is coming nearer. I feel it all about me. There will be no way out. It will be as it was with my cousin Anne. Why did I not see it? Tell me."

I answered: "Your Majesty must not distress yourself. The King loves you as he loved none other...not even your cousin."

The long-lashed hazel eyes regarded me intently.

She answered: "He loved her much in the beginning. He defied the Church for her sake. He sent good men to their deaths because of her. And then he ordered her to be killed. The same fate awaits me. I can already see the executioner's axe ready for me."

"There is no need..." I began.

"There is every need," she replied. "I know you love me. I know you speak out of regard for my feelings. You would give me cheer. But it remains, and there is one thing I would ask of you. The desire has come to me to set it all down, to see it all in clarity, just as it happened. Mayhap it could have been different. I could have been happy with Thomas. He is waiting for me...even now. If I had never gone to Court...if only the King had never looked my way...if only I could go back to the time when it had all begun. No, right to the beginning, those first days--that day when I left my father's home at Lambeth, before I went to my grandmother in Horsham...yes, right to the very beginning, mayhap I could then discover where I might have saved myself. But I am not good with the pen. I was never tutored as I should have been."

"Your Majesty would indeed find such writing an arduous task."

"Yes. And you are my good friend. That is why I ask you to help me in this."

"I? How so?"

"You are a good scribe. It would be an easy task for you. I have a conviction that there will be some time for us to be together in the weeks to come. It will turn my thoughts from what awaits me. I shall tell you how it happened--scene by scene--and you shall write it down as it should be written, for you will know well how to do that. Then you will read to me what I have said, and I shall say, 'Yes, that was how it was.' And I shall say to myself, 'This I...or that...is the way I should have gone.'"

"I think Your Majesty will tire of this ere long."

She shook her head. "I shall not tire, my good friend, for I want so much to see it as it was. Mayhap Thomas will see it. It will help him to understand that, whatever happened before, he was the one I loved."

Her lips trembled and she hesitated for a while before she said with emotion: "And I shall do so as long as there is breath in my body."

I bowed my head and said: "I shall be ready to start as soon as Your Majesty commands."

The Duchess Calls

I SEE NOW THAT IT BEGAN when I went to my grandmother's house in Horsham. That was a long time ago but, without doubt, that was the move which set me on the path which led me to where I stand today. There was nothing I could have done about it. I was a child and such decisions were not made by me. If I had possessed a different nature, if I had not been so ready to love and trust, I might have been wise enough to avoid the pitfalls; but we are as God made us, and what was irresistible temptation to me could have been thrust aside with ease by some. The road is laid before us and we must pass along it, and, through ourselves, come to salvation--or damnation.

Before that significant event, my carefree days were passed in the midst of my large family. There were eight of us children. I was the fifth in order of age, having three brothers and one sister older than myself, and, in time, three sisters younger.

Looking back, it seems that those days were made up of unalloyed pleasure. The fact that we were very poor did not worry us. We lived in a once-grand house in Lambeth, by the river, and our overgrown garden ran down to the water's edge.

What did we care that the house was in need of repair, that there were not enough servants to look after us, and that those who were there were either faithful retainers or stayed because they needed a roof over their heads? Our clothes were torn or patched. Indeed, it was often difficult to know which was patch and which original garment.

Sometimes there was not enough food to go round and we had to eat sparingly. We had no tutors, no governesses. We ran wild and we were free. We played our games: often hide-and-seek which was played in an ancient house, fast falling into ruin, and was very exciting; we danced and sang, which I particularly enjoyed; and we were very happy.

The family fortunes had declined with the coming of the Tudors. My great-grandfather, the first Duke of Norfolk in the Howard family, had supported Richard III and had died with the King on the field of Bosworth. The inevitable outcome was that, when Henry VII came to the throne, he confiscated the family's estates and titles.

However, my grandfather distinguished himself at Flodden Field, where he secured a great victory over the Scots, and his titles and estates were then restored to him by Henry VIII.

My father also fought in the battle at Flodden and, as a reward for his share in the victory, he was awarded the Controllership of Calais. This helped to relieve his poverty to some extent, but he needed more than his remuneration for this post to keep his family and to settle the enormous debts he had accumulated.

He was away from home often, which was a blessing, for it helped him to escape from the creditors who were constantly pursuing him.

So we remained poor but happy. Perhaps it was my nature to be happy. I know I was during those years when I was rushing toward disaster. I certainly had hours of great pleasure, and that is surely happiness. It is one of the reasons why I find it so hard to face this terrible fate which has come upon me.

In those days, I saw little of my father, for he was often in Calais. My mother sometimes accompanied him; and when she was home, she seemed either about to have a child or had just had one. She was loving and kind when I did see her, but I think she found the hardships she had to endure in the Lambeth house not to her liking; and I guessed this was due to the fact that it was very different to the house in which she had been brought up. She was the daughter of Sir Richard Culpepper of Hollingbourne in Kent. There were occasions when some members of her father's household traveled to London, and naturally they must visit us, and I knew then that my mother was ashamed of the squalor in which we lived.

I remember one occasion very well because, with the visitors from Hollingbourne, came Thomas Culpepper. He was a sort of cousin, a little older than I. I thought him wondrously handsome in a rather angelic way. He had the clear features portrayed in a Greek sculpture and such graceful manners. I knew at once that he came from a well-ordered home, quite different from ours: perhaps that was why he seemed to enjoy our free-and-easy manners so much.

We played games. Hide-and-seek was a favorite for, as I said, the large, untidy house and the neglected gardens provided wonderful places in which to hide.

Thomas and I went off to hide together. I showed him the shrubbery, which was especially overgrown, even compared with the rest of the place, and we had to force our way through the shrubs.

"Why do your gardeners not take better care of it?" asked Thomas.

"Nobody looks after anything here," I replied. "We are too poor to pay for it."

Thomas looked at me in dismay and, seeing a fallen tree-trunk, I sat down on it, and prepared to enjoy the company of my exciting young kinsman.

I said: "This is as good a place as any to hide. We should hear anyone approaching." And I signed to him to sit beside me.

"I thought the Howards were a very important family," he said. "The Duke of Norfolk is at Court and close to the King."

"That does not mean we are not poor. You can see that, can you not?"

"I can indeed," said Thomas.

"I heard one of the serving men say some beggars in the streets have more than we have."

"Poor Katherine," he said. "And you are so pretty."

That pleased me, and I wanted more compliments. I looked down at my dress, and I said: "My dress is threadbare. Soon it will be impossible to patch it. All our clothes are patched, and they say that my father goes to Calais to escape his creditors."

"It's a shame," replied Thomas. "So your father goes away...and your mother?"

"There are times when she goes with him."

"I know that she is too ill to go now."

"Yes, she stays in her chamber most of the time."

"It is the reason for our being here. They thought we should come to see her before we had word summoning us."

I must have looked bewildered, for he turned to me and, putting his hands on my shoulders, looked intently at me.

"Yes," he said, "you are very pretty, Katherine Howard."

Then suddenly he kissed me.

I was very pleased, so I returned his kiss.

My sister Margaret said that I showed affection too readily. It was not the way in which a Howard should behave. I did not agree with Margaret. What was wrong with showing people that you liked them, if you did? For one thing, they usually liked you in return, which was surely good.

Thomas looked somewhat embarrassed and drew away from me.

"Do you think we shall be found here?" he asked.

"It is not easy to find people in the gardens."

I wanted to know more about him, so I went on: "My brothers are always talking about going to Court. Do you want to go to Court?"

"I think I shall go," he...

Customer Reviews

THE FIFTH WIFE OF HENRY VIII...
In this, the final novel in her "Queens of England" series of books, the author weaves a tapestry of political intrigue, romance, and historical detail into the story of young Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII. A masterful storyteller, the author, who also writes under the name Victoria Holt and has a cavalcade of devoted readers, creates a work of historical fiction that will transport the reader to another time.

The book details the rise and fall of Katherine Howard, a young, impoverished noblewoman of an illustrous family. As a young girl, she was sent to live with her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk, where she, unfortunately, fell in with a licentious group of retainers and became ensnared in two unsuitable affairs of the heart. Little did she know that they would serve to haunt her a way she could never have imagined.

An opportunity, orchestrated by her Machiavellian and ambitious uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, arises for the beautiful, though foolish, Katherine to go to the Royal Court as Lady -In-Waiting to the fourth wife of Henry VIII, the kindly Anne of Cleves. Katherine obligingly goes. There, she falls in love with her cousin, Thomas Culpepper, a gentleman of the King's Bed Chamber. Her hopes of marriage to her handsome cousin are soon dashed, however, when she catches the wandering eye of the King, who loathes his current wife.

Having charmed the King and having little say in the matter, Katherine becomes his fifth wife, once he divorces Anne of Cleves. Katherine's initial happiness as Queen is cut short, however, when her lurid past comes to light and is brought to the King's attention. This, coupled with her indiscretions with Thomas Culpepper, are enough to abruptly terminate her brief reign over England as its Queen and cause a number of heads, including hers, to roll.

This is an intriguing blend of fact and fiction, which is laced with enough historical detail to satisfy those readers who enjoy historical fiction. It is with good reason that the author has a legion of devoted readers.

Compelling and Haunting
I recently bought this book along with Lady in the Tower, the other new Plaidy re-release. This shorter volume tells of Katharine Howard, the cousin of Anne Boleyn who also became queen of England and who also shared a similiar fate. Katharine is born into an impoverished branch of the Howard family, a very noble English family that is also very stable at court. When her powerful Grandmother comes to visit their meager country estate, Katharine intrigues her Grandmother and is whisked off to live at her Grandmother's large and beautiful estate. While there, her Grandmother neglects her and Katharine gives into the daring acts of the girls who work in the estate who share her bechamber. Katharine befriends her music teacher, Mannox, and invites him into her bed at night. The affair ends fast and one Francis Weston comes into Katharine's life. However, this ends once Katharine's Grandmother comes upon Francis and Katharine frolicking upon a parlor floor. Around this time Anne Boleyn is crowned queen and so the entire entourage and family moves to the Lambeth estate on the Thames River in London. Now Katharine falls for her own cousin, Thomas Culpepper. However, Katharine's powerful uncle has plans for his neice and finds her a place in Anne of Cleves short-lived entourage (Anne Boleyn has hence forth been executed and Jane Seymour has died). Henry VIII begins to notice Katharine and after demissing his marriage to Anne of Cleves, he courts Katharine and soon she is thrust onto the same stage her older cousin came upon a decade or so before. Katharine is wedded to the king in a short ceremony and soon begins her short reign as Queen of England. However, when rumors of her past affairs come back Katharine finds herself in danger. Franics Weston comes to court, as does Mannox, bringing back haunting memories that could cost Katharine her head. But when Katharine commits adultery with Thomas Culpepper one night, her fate is sealed. Henry, in his first happy marriage in decades, is brought the horrible news by those insanely jealous of Katharine's new fame and the Howard's rising fortune (even though they were already very dominant and had more power than the Tudors). Katharine is guilty, as are her lovers, and all are brought to the block or the gallows. And even on the scafold Katharine declared "I die a queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpepper". I loved this book and found it highly enjoyable. I find it no wonder that Jean Plaidy is acclaimed a sone of the greatest historical fiction writers ever. A haunting and compelling story full of intrigue and unexpected twists and turns, Katharine's story was a short lived one that is often overshadowed by her cousin's story, but is just as interesting.

Katherine Howard's story from her point of view
Katherine Howard, the young and pretty fifth wife of Henry VIII (and cousin to Anne Boleyn) is the subject of one of Plaidy's last novels, written in the style of The Lady in the Tower.

Katherine, through the aid of a scribe (she was not greatly educated), tells her life story. Born into an impoverished branch of the great Howard family, she is sent to live with her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, and it is not long before her good looks and bad company begin to get her into trouble. When she is given a place as a lady to Anne of Cleves, her family attempts to use Henry VIII's infatuation with her to serve their own interests.

The Rose Without a Thorn is a very moving and intelligent historical read. Readers see how the young, foolish Katherine goes from the Queen of England to a prisoner when her past comes back to haunt her and she is also charged with adultery. Most likely to add more validity to the love story with Culpepper, there is a small historical inaccuracy at the end...Katherine did not actually say that she would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpepper than as a queen.

However, a wonderful page turner. I was actually moved to tears at the end.