A heavy dose of fiction with almost no history

Carolly Erickson has taken so many liberties with Katherine Parr's already very fascinating life that this is almost entirely fictional. She used real people yet seemed to ignore dates, contemporary sources and any actual historical fact while writing this book. She glosses over MANY major scandals, dates and moments in Henry the 8ths reign. Including the trail and beheading of Anne Boleyn for treason amd incest, which was unheard of before 1536, and would've dominated all of the nobilities talk. She also gets alot wrong about her relationship with Thomas Seymour, there is absolutely NO WAY she'd have risked an affair with him after Henry beheaded both Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard for treason for having affairs (Anne however is believed by historians to be innocent given the evidence), and she had Parr warning Howard not to lest she face the consequences. Yet not even 4 chapters later she's doing exactly what her predecessor was warned against. Erickson also does Katherine Parr a great disservice by downplaying her intelligence, she was a well educated woman who wrote a book and was an ardent protestant. She was also the ONLY one of Henry's 6 wives to not only survive him but out manoeuvre the plot to have her killed by rivals at court.

Terry Donnelly's reading makes Parr seem whiny, incompetent and completely unsympathetic. She's a good reader for novelists like Sophie Kinsella but is poorly suited to this role.


TL;DR this book is 99.9% fiction and the only parts that make it historical are the character's names. Save your money/credit and wait for Alison Weirs book.

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