The Constant Princess (Boleyn)
2 journalers for this copy...
Rec'd via Bookmooch.com.
I wrote this up when I read the book back in 2007:
The book's quite consistent with Gregory's portrayal of the Tudor dynasty in The Other Boleyn Girl. I had never known much of Moslem Spain, so I really enjoyed hearing about Katharine's childhood and the palace and gardens of Alhambra.
Her devotion to Arthur and later to the Tudors just amazes me. If this woman is truly the person Henry VIII married, then his selfishness reaches new levels. Katherine may not have loved him (but honestly, would he have known if she did not?) as she had loved her brother, but she was faithful to him and to the England she had grown to love from childhood to her deathbed.
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From Publishers Weekly
As youngest daughter to the Spanish monarchs and crusaders King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Catalina, princess of Wales and of Spain, was promised to the English Prince Arthur when she was three. She leaves Spain at 15 to fulfill her destiny as queen of England, where she finds true love with Arthur (after some initial sourness) as they plot the future of their kingdom together. Arthur dies young, however, leaving Catalina a widow and ineligible for the throne. Before his death, he extracts a promise from his wife to marry his younger brother Henry in order to become queen anyway, have children and rule as they had planned, a situation that can only be if Catalina denies that Arthur was ever her lover. Gregory's latest (after Earthly Joys) compellingly dramatizes how Catalina uses her faith, her cunning and her utter belief in destiny to reclaim her rightful title. By alternating tight third-person narration with Catalina's unguarded thoughts and gripping dialogue, the author presents a thorough, sympathetic portrait of her heroine and her transformation into Queen Katherine. Gregory's skill for creating suspense pulls the reader along despite the historical novel's foregone conclusion.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
I wrote this up when I read the book back in 2007:
The book's quite consistent with Gregory's portrayal of the Tudor dynasty in The Other Boleyn Girl. I had never known much of Moslem Spain, so I really enjoyed hearing about Katharine's childhood and the palace and gardens of Alhambra.
Her devotion to Arthur and later to the Tudors just amazes me. If this woman is truly the person Henry VIII married, then his selfishness reaches new levels. Katherine may not have loved him (but honestly, would he have known if she did not?) as she had loved her brother, but she was faithful to him and to the England she had grown to love from childhood to her deathbed.
--
From Publishers Weekly
As youngest daughter to the Spanish monarchs and crusaders King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Catalina, princess of Wales and of Spain, was promised to the English Prince Arthur when she was three. She leaves Spain at 15 to fulfill her destiny as queen of England, where she finds true love with Arthur (after some initial sourness) as they plot the future of their kingdom together. Arthur dies young, however, leaving Catalina a widow and ineligible for the throne. Before his death, he extracts a promise from his wife to marry his younger brother Henry in order to become queen anyway, have children and rule as they had planned, a situation that can only be if Catalina denies that Arthur was ever her lover. Gregory's latest (after Earthly Joys) compellingly dramatizes how Catalina uses her faith, her cunning and her utter belief in destiny to reclaim her rightful title. By alternating tight third-person narration with Catalina's unguarded thoughts and gripping dialogue, the author presents a thorough, sympathetic portrait of her heroine and her transformation into Queen Katherine. Gregory's skill for creating suspense pulls the reader along despite the historical novel's foregone conclusion.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Journal Entry 2 by k00kaburra at -- Bookbox, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA on Monday, February 27, 2012
Released 12 yrs ago (2/27/2012 UTC) at -- Bookbox, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
adding to my Medieval & Renaissance Bookbox!
Got this book in the medieval/renaissance bookbox from ravencat in New York.
