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Daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, Katherine has been fated her whole life to marry Prince Arthur of England. When they meet and are married, the match becomes as passionate as it is politically expedient. The young lovers revel in each other's company and plan the England they will make together. But tragically, aged only fifteen, Arthur falls ill and extracts from his sixteen-year-old bride a deathbed promise to marry his brother, Henry; become Queen; and fulfill their dreams and her destiny.
Widowed and alone in the avaricious world of the Tudor court, Katherine has to sidestep her father-in-law's desire for her and convince him, and an incredulous Europe, that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated, that there is no obstacle to marriage with Henry. For seven years, she endures the treachery of spies, the humiliation of poverty, and intense loneliness and despair while she waits for the inevitable moment when she will step into the role she has prepared for all her life. Then, like her warrior mother, Katherine must take to the battlefield and save England when its old enemies the Scots come over the border and there is no one to stand against them but the new Queen.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 6, 2005 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780743282482
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780743282482
- File size: 10516 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 5, 2005
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. Agent, Melanie Jackson. -
October 1, 2005
Best-selling historical novelist Gregory returns to the world of Tudor England that she explored in books like "The Other Boleyn Girl". This time, her subject is Katherine of Aragon, the 16-year-old daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Katherine knows from a very young age that she is promised to marry Prince Arthur, heir to the English throne, and she never wavers in her conviction that she will one day become queen. That determination is sorely tested, however, upon Arthur's premature death after two years of marriage. Although she loves her husband (a passion that is kept hidden from the court), Katherine agrees to his dying wish that he be declared impotent so that she can marry his younger brother, Henry, and eventually reign as queen. This fascinating portrait of a proud, intelligent, and passionate woman captures the political turmoil of the era; a secondary plot involving Katherine's single-minded filial devotion to her parents makes her an even more vulnerable and complex character. An excellent choice for historical fiction collections. -Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., MankatoCopyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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