Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen > Status Update

And I’m shouting at Katheryn to confess her pre-contract with Dereham, she would be saved then

‘She had thought herself happy, married to Henry, and in many ways she was. But he was old and she was young, with the clamorous blood of youth coursing through her veins - and she had known passion. Seeing Tom, talking to Tom, had awakened something in her, something she thought had died.’

I am actually quite enjoying this, Katheryn is growing on me. I feel like she is maturing throughout the book, she actually seems to care for Henry. She isn’t in love with him, but she does feel some guilt for having deceived him and is quite happy with him at this point. I never really thought about that possibility, but I guess she was pretty much being doted on and being given whatever she wanted.

‘“I have never seen such honour, purity and maidenly behaviour in a young lady.”
A great lump of guilt rose in Katheryn’s throat. They had, all of them, colluded to deceive him - and there was nothing to be done about it. Too many hopes rested on her. Well, from now on, she would be all those things he admired. What had happened in the past did not matter.’

Don’t like the portrayal of Jane Boleyn in general, as there is no proof she had an unhappy marriage and wanted her husband and sister-in-law dead, but did not expect this to change, as Weir portrayed her like this in the second book. One of the first things she says in this is that she is glad they are dead and that they deserved it. However, she does seem friendly and like a mother-figure to Katheryn at least.

‘She felt sorry for the poor Queen. Had Anne of Cleves any idea what awaited her at the end of her journey? King or no, this ageing, obese man had little to offer a young woman. She even found herself feeling pity for him because of what he had once been and what he was now.’

‘She had been asking herself again why she should not have a lover. Some of the girls here passed from one gallant to another. She was fed up with being virtuous. There was no marriage on the horizon for her, nor ever would be if the Duchess went on forgetting to bestir herself. Why should she not enjoy the pleasures of love here and now? She would never want any man as much as she wanted Francis.’

I’m not sure they would have thought of Manox as being in a ‘position of trust’ back then, that is more of a modern idea

‘This was more what Katheryn expected to hear, the kind of response that suitors gave in love stories, in which the heroine was always aloof and unattainable, or might just condescend to giving a kind look or a gentle caress. Clearly, Mr Manox understood this, even if he had got carried away to begin with. And, she had to admit, so had she, until she came to her senses.’

‘What harm was there in having high spirits, enjoying a laugh with the other girls and loving fine clothes? So what if she baulked at doing tasks she didn’t like, such as mending hems, making tarts and helping in the still room, the kind of things Mother Emmet deemed suitable occupations for a young lady? And did God really mind so much that she was not always in chapel when she should be?’