Sorry, friends -- this one is going to stay on my shelf! 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 she was still a teenager when she was executed, and to be as young as she was, she handled her death quite honorably. Hoyt does an excellent job of really showing the reader how little Kathryn knew about royal life before being thrust into the spotlight, and how jealousy and gossip can destroy a person. You can't write about Kathryn Howard without including a few sexual situations, but the ones in this book were well written and not sleazy, which I appreciated. I know everyone has their own take on Henry VIII's wives, but I think the author makes a compelling case for a more forgiving version of Kathryn Howard's story. I'd recommend this book to other fans of Tudor England in a heartbeat.
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