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Read | Six Tudor Queens - Alison Weir


It's a fact that I'm a bit of a history nerd. I just find it all so fascinating, it's like with reading a fiction novel in that you immerse yourself in another world. An area in which I find most interesting is the English monarchy mostly the Tudors and the Stuarts. When I saw Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen* in the monthly list of new releases from Hachette NZ I knew I had to get my hands on it.

The book is a fiction/non-fiction hybrid. It's historical in that all the characters and events are real but it's told in a narrative from Katherine's point of view. Obviously Katherine's thoughts and emotions were not something that was recorded so Weir took some creative licence with it.

The book starts with Katherine on her journey to England to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales and finishes with her death. It was interesting reading it from her point of view, one that is generally less favoured and is usually focused on Henry VIII. You really got a sense of her character and you see how strong she was for standing up for her and her daughter's rights even after she is cast out by her husband.

Throughout reading all the images I had in my head came from The Tudors TV show. Henry was Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Katherine was Mrs S/Maria Doyle Kennedy, Anne Boleyn was Margaery Tyrell/ Natalie Dormer and Charles Brandon was Superman/Henry Cavill. While the show wasn't that historically accurate the book is filled with all the secondary characters and relationships and you see that Jane Seymour aka Henry's third wife was one of Katherine's ladies and that Charles Brandon's fourth wife is the daughter of Katherine's best friend and was named after the Queen. It's details like this that I find really fascinating and get excited about.

At times it's a bit hard to keep track of all the characters but if are really interested in this area of history you should definitely have a read. I can't wait for Anne Boleyn's story, it will be interesting reading the same parts from a different perspective.

Have you read any historical fiction?

Ashley xx
*Review copy

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