No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard

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No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard

3.44 of 5 stars 3.44 · rating details · 158 ratings · 16 reviews

The author who "masterfully builds a dramatic story" presents another gripping novel of the women of Tudor England.

As the bereft, orphaned cousin to the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard knows better than many the danger of being favored by the King. But she is a Howard, and therefore ambitious, so she assumes the role Henry VIII has assigned her-his untouched chi...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published April 6th 2010 by Berkley Trade

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Tudor Fiction

11th out of 69 books — 8 voters

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

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Nov 19, 2012 Linda Lipko rated it 1 of 5 stars

I've read more books about Henry VIII and his six wives than I can count. Fascinated by this subject, I continue my quest to learn more and more and to find a new book with a new twist. Sadly, this wasn't the one!

I assume the name of the book No Will But His refers to Henry VIII and his controlling personality, yet, even as one who knows a lot about the subject, I'm mystified how the author published with this title.

The book focuses on Katherine Howard, wife #5 of rotund, open-wound stinking, me...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Lucy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Just when I thought I’d read it all and had my fill on Kathryn Howard, comes a book to rekindle my heart. No Will But His, the title of this sublime read, was also Kathryn’s chosen motto... it couldn’t have been more perfect. Kathryn definitely had no say, from beginning to end- and that’s not only where Henry was concerned; Kathryn indulged everyone.

Caring too much about others while forsaking herself along the way, Kathryn dared not hurt or disappoint. Hoyt captures this essence completely, an...more
Just when I thought I’d read it all and had my fill on Kathryn Howard, comes a book to rekindle my heart. No Will But His, the title of this sublime read, was also Kathryn’s chosen motto... it couldn’t have been more perfect. Kathryn definitely had no say, from beginning to end- and that’s not only where Henry was concerned; Kathryn indulged everyone.

Caring too much about others while forsaking herself along the way, Kathryn dared not hurt or disappoint. Hoyt captures this essence completely, and I for one, am thankful for this most accurate and genuine portrayal of this sadly and misused, puppet queen.

Too many books have capitalized on making the young queen appear overly sexed, flighty, non-caring and downright stupid (these are probably the same people who’ve wrongly slotted Ann Boleyn as well). If you’re a Tudor buff, you know what I mean. Hoyt went the extra mile to really bring out Kathryn’s caring nature and almost self-sacrificial way to be.

What generally comes off as not too deep and rather silly, is in this book revealed as something that goes way deeper. There was much thought and reason brewing in that pretty head, and for the most of it, the conclusions sought were brought forth by the heart- and her fear.

True, Kathryn’s choices ultimately contributed to her tragedy, but when you consider the options...Giving Henry an heir would have solved everything- or so she thought.

The unraveling of her life through a fabrication of gossip would ultimately destroy her reputation and undo her totally. Her word, as much as her tragic death, meant nothing to no one.

For those who would love to get a feel for what Kathryn’s life was like prior to Henry, this book indulges the reader mostly in this part of her life. It’s only in the latter part of the book that Henry shows up for a brief time (very short marriage indeed...)

To understand how transparently genuine, innocent and harmless, this young queen really was, all you need to do is read the part when she meets Anne of Cleves...Her acceptance of the former queen is sublimely humble and quite touching- I loved that part.

Calling all Tudor buffs: You’ll enjoy No Will But His- for sure!(less)

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Apr 10, 2013 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

While I disagree a tiny bit with the way that Kathryn Howard was portrayed as a naive, childlike figure, I think that this book still has an overwhelming degree of accurate detail. The story is told correctly even if her motivations for her licentious acts are a little unclear. Still, it generated in me a strong degree of sympathy for the young queen, which is not something I had previously felt for her. Whether or not she was scandalous or just plain gullible, there's no ignoring the fact that...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Rachel Swords rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: tudors

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Good: it's refreshing to see Kathryn Howard not portrayed as an air-headed slut for once. Here, she is seen as an ignorant woman who is aware of this fact and is somewhat naive in the ways of men and relationships and knows it. Also, the idea of Kathryn traveling to London for her cousin's coronation is one I haven't seen before, and is thus interesting.

The Bad: Jane Boleyn is portrayed as fully mad and yet remains a member of Henry VIII's court. While her predicament is explained by way of...more The Good: it's refreshing to see Kathryn Howard not portrayed as an air-headed slut for once. Here, she is seen as an ignorant woman who is aware of this fact and is somewhat naive in the ways of men and relationships and knows it. Also, the idea of Kathryn traveling to London for her cousin's coronation is one I haven't seen before, and is thus interesting.

The Bad: Jane Boleyn is portrayed as fully mad and yet remains a member of Henry VIII's court. While her predicament is explained by way of guilt over the deaths of her husband and sister-in-law, it seems highly doubtful at the same time that such a woman would be retained as a lady-in-waiting to three different queens. More than likely in reality, had she shown any genuine signs of madness at court, Henry would have sent her home to her relations instead of keeping her on as a charity case or something. Also, the tagline on the book's cover is somewhat misleading, since the majority of the story deals with Kathryn's pre-Henry life; the royal period takes up only a third of the book.

The Ugly: the characters freely go back and forth between modern language and Shakespearean dialogue. The writing quality goes downhill once Kathryn is arrested; it's as if the author just stopped caring altogether. Henry VIII manages to name-drop each of his previous wives at least once throughout the story; save for Jane, it seems highly doubtful that he would have ever done such. Also, Henry is extremely understanding when Kathryn miscarries their child, to the point of saying "it's okay if we never have any children." Um, no? Considering Henry's obsession with having a son, he would have wanted a second boy to secure the Tudor throne. And based on past wives' miscarriages, the likelihood of him being forgiving is a bit ridiculous. Speaking of previous wives, almost all of the characters are fixated on Anne Boleyn; while this is understandable during the parts where the Howards are preparing Kathryn to ensnare the king, it is unlikely with everyone else. The biggest problem I have with this book, though, is the repetition of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that are scattered throughout. Did no one proofread this thing before sending it to press? I read this book as a library copy and the person before me circled all of the errors and they added up to the point of annoyance.(less)

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Aug 19, 2011 Helen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well written and clearly well researched historical novel about Henry VIII's fifth wife, Kathryn Howard. Kathryn is portrayed as a little too intelligent, and a little too angelic to be completely believable though. But I did enjoy this novel enough to read it all the way through, and to give it 4 stars.

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Aug 22, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: old-world

if you ignore the issues the author has with historical details & names, and the inconsistency with old language dialogue, this book isn't too bad. written about henry VIII's fifth wife, katherine howard, the story flows relatively well. her character, while accurately majorly ignorant of life & court, suddenly becomes wise & calculating at the end. what gives? the prologue hints at this character reformation, yet it isn't well developed. if katherine was truly so ignorant of how to...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Judith rated it 5 of 5 stars

A comprehensive historical novel, teasing out the sad tale of the fifth wife of Henry VIII and perhaps the most to be pitied. Certainly this is historical fiction, but it is so well researched and is so completely in sync with the historical record, that Ms Hoyt has produced a work of which she and any serious author could be proud. Loving this Tudor period in English history, I was anxious to see what she had done with this story. It is a wonderful look-see into the life and times of Tudor roya...more

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Jun 24, 2010 Amber (The Musings of ALMYBNENR) rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Tudor geeks

This is the first historical fiction novel I have read that is solely about Catherine Howard. I have read The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, but she wrote that from three perspectives: that of Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn. So I bought this because I was seriously lacking books on Henry VIII’s fifth queen.

From my love-of-books-and-fiction perspective, I found this to be a good novel and addition to my Tudor collection. From my historical perspective, I found a few an...more This is the first historical fiction novel I have read that is solely about Catherine Howard. I have read The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, but she wrote that from three perspectives: that of Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn. So I bought this because I was seriously lacking books on Henry VIII’s fifth queen.

From my love-of-books-and-fiction perspective, I found this to be a good novel and addition to my Tudor collection. From my historical perspective, I found a few annoyances.

A couple of the historical annoyances that I can recall have to do with name confusion and the ending.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but the following is an example of what I thought was name confusion (these are Catherine’s thoughts) on pages 233-234:

And though Anne said nothing at all in those letters that could be considered dangerous, she was sure that Joan alluded to the deeper relationship that the whole dormitory knew existed between her and Dereham when she said that she had kept Kathryn’s secrets and had no intention of divulging them.

Prior to this, there was no mention of an “Anne” and I believe it should have been “Kathryn”. But these are, after all, minor things, but they just seemed to glare at me.

I will not spoil the ending. Most of us know Catherine Howard’s history, if not all, but by not spoiling the ending, I mean the way in which the ending is told. I will request that if you read this novel to check out this article at The Anne Boleyn Files on Catherine Howard, Francis Dereham, Thomas Culpeper, and Jane Boleyn.

Also there were some minor editing mistakes that caught my eye throughout the novel. There were enough for me to mention it in the first place, including ones like the following where the sentence structure did not seem to make sense. Of course, I do not always make sense, so this may just be me.

Page 276:

While Kathryn felt no trepidation at all over the reception of the queen she had displaced, yet the situation must be awkward.

Overall, this was a fair/good book. For Tudor geeks like myself, consider adding it to your collection.

The original review is here.(less)

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Sep 19, 2010 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Sarah A. Hoyt, mostly of Shakespeare fiction fame, takes one of the most scandalous wives of the Henry VIII, Kathryn Howard, in true Philippa Gregory/biographical fiction tradition. I had high hopes for this novel -there's so much juicy intrigue to pull from. How could you go wrong?

Readers first meet young Kathryn Howard when she's sent off to live in the home of the dowager duchess, a family relative. Even though Kathryn is raised to be a well-mannered, graceful young woman who will one day mar...more Sarah A. Hoyt, mostly of Shakespeare fiction fame, takes one of the most scandalous wives of the Henry VIII, Kathryn Howard, in true Philippa Gregory/biographical fiction tradition. I had high hopes for this novel -there's so much juicy intrigue to pull from. How could you go wrong?

Readers first meet young Kathryn Howard when she's sent off to live in the home of the dowager duchess, a family relative. Even though Kathryn is raised to be a well-mannered, graceful young woman who will one day marry a man and bear his children, she finds herself entangled with a lustful music master and a young man named Francis Dereham, whom she hoped to marry one day. After discovering her indiscretions, the dowager duchess sends her away to be a lady-in-waiting to the new Queen Anne of Cleves, within something of a hidden agenda. Of course, much like her infamous cousin Anne Bolyen, Kathryn catches Henry's eye and eventually becomes queen herself, but of course, her questionable past catches up with her as do her other questionable deeds...

Sounds like a great recipe for some juciy fiction, doesn't it? It should have been, but Hoyt manage to make it well...boring. First, Hoyt's writing style is composed of long, windy sentences and flowery dialog that fit better with her other Shakespeare-fiction novels, but tend to leave readers out of breath. Hoyt's prose also tends to frequently fall flat, and lacks adequate detail or emotion. More importantly, No Will But His has dull characters that have hardly any personality or compelling traits that bring them alive for the reader. I was left wondering if Kathryn was ambitious, a pawn in a bigger game, or just an unintelligent flirt. I never even got a sense of romance between Kathryn and her adulterous lover Thomas Culpepper, just the need for them to come together for the purposes of the plot.

Though the plot itself is solid, there's no characterization at all. Frankly, I was sorely disappointed in No Will But His, and went away with no added understanding of Kathryn Howard the character or the historical figure. Tudor fiction fans should give this one a miss. Don't waste your time here. (less)

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May 23, 2010 Samantha rated it 2 of 5 stars

The author either was seriously confused about the time period in the beginning (the pianoforte was not introduced until the the mid to late 17th century, and she kept switching back and forth from more modern english to old english) and / or her editors just didn't care (names and pronouns often got mixed up until about the middle of the book).

Now, for the story itself: I hardly think Katherine Howard was that innocent and naive. History tells us the affair with Culpepper went on for months, n...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Lia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, tudor, 2012, own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 06, 2011 Christy English rated it 4 of 5 stars

A woman used by everyone in her life, in this novel Kathryn Howard is given a voice, which is a rarity in the fiction I've read about Henry VIII. As always, I felt a great deal of pity for this doomed woman, and as I read I wished that Kathryn had had more caution and/or better friends. I found this novel sad, but moving.

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Apr 12, 2011 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tudors, historical-fiction

An interesting take on Katherine Howard's life. The author portrayed her less as a slutty idiot here, but did reinvent history just a bit. It doesn't bother me in historical fiction, but I do wish she had put an author's note explaining why she went the way she did on some of the stories.

I did like that the characters spoke in "Old English", but not so much that it was hard to read. It is a little jolting to read such modern jargon in other novels, and I thought this one hit the nail on the head...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tudor-fiction, tudor-wife-5

Better than Confession of Katherine Howard, worse than King's Rose.

It has good points and bad points, leaving me unsure how I feel about it overall.

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Feb 08, 2011 Carley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

I love reading books about Henry and his wives so I was pleased to see one about Catherine Howard, wife # 4. I’ve always found her to be really interesting what with being cousin to Anne Boleyn and how naïve she seemed to be. This book showed a different side to Catherine Howard then what I’m used to seeing. She had a conscious and some brains! I did feel like the end was too quick although I guess that’s what happens in the Tudor court.

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Feb 17, 2010 Heather Domin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: hns-reviews

[to be reviewed for HNS May 2010:]

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Shelves: must-buy

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