The Unfaithful Queen: A Novel of Henry VIII's Fifth Wife

Carolly Erickson

Sep 2012 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

From New York Times bestselling author of The Last Wife of Henry VIII, a novel about Catherine Howard, wife of Henry's later years

Amid the turbulent, faction-ridden late reign of the fearsome Henry, eager high-spirited Catherine Howard caught the king's eye—but not before she had been the sensual plaything of at least three other men. Ignorant of her past, seeing only her youthful exuberance and believing that she could make him happy, he married her—only to discover, too late, that her heart belonged to his gentleman usher Tom Culpeper.

As the net of court intrigue tightens around her, and with the Tudor succession yet again in peril because of Prince Edward's severe illness, Queen Catherine struggles to give the angry, bloated and impotent king a son. But when her relations turn against her, she finds herself doomed, just as her cousin Anne Boleyn was, to face the executioner.

The Unfaithful Queen lays bare the dark underbelly of the Tudor court, with its sugared rivalries and bitter struggles for power, where a girl of noble family could find herself sent to labor among the turnspits in the kitchens or—should fortune favor her—be exalted to the throne.

Ratings and reviews

I picked up two of Carrolly Erickson ' s books at a local store, one of which is this one, I'm about half way through (don't have much time to read) and every time I start reading I lose track of time and find myself having to set timers to make sure I'm not late for things! This book has me so intrigued as to what will happen next!!

Thought the book was very good in portraying a women who is pushed in to a world of lust so young , many times she is pushed from the more popular queens,. It made me cry, happy and sad to see how she was treated how family are ready to rise a star and then flee like rats of a sinking ship. Used and abused the story kind of gives a wanting that never would happen like a dream, only thing in would say was Ann of cleaves I don't think she would have been so nasty but more motherly.

I absolutely loved loved loved this book

About the author

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of more than two dozen works of fiction (Rival to the Queen, The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette) and nonfiction (The First Elizabeth, Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs). Her novel The Tsarina’s Daughter won the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. She lives in Hawaii.