The Taming of the Queen - Philippa Gregory - 4 Stars

[Olivermagnus]

The Taming of the Queen is set in the 1540s, and is narrated by Kateryn Parr, the sixth and surviving wife of Henry VIII. Probably the least known of Henry's six wives, she is also quite different from the others. When Henry proposed, she was already in her early 30s, had been widowed twice, and was interested in religious study. She was secretly in love with another man, Lord Thomas Seymour, but knew she could not turn down the King's marriage proposal. Most books dealing with the court of Henry VIII seem to focus on his early years but in this book, the king is hugely obese and crippled by his putrid leg ulcer.

In some cases Henry seems to trust Kateryn and allows her to act as regent in England while he's in France. She was instrumental in bringing all three of his children together for the first time and he seemed to appreciate that. He enjoyed setting people on each other and he did that to Kateryn as well, one moment encouraging her to freely speak and then turning on her and requiring complete submission. She knew failure to meet his expectations would lead to a one-way trip to the Tower.

I found this a very interesting book, but I was much more interested in the court happenings than I was with some of the repetitive focus on religious reform. The author did a first-rate job of capturing the fear and uncertainty that Kateryn must have felt. While not my favorite Philippa Gregory book, I enjoyed it very much.