Book Review: I've noticed of late that I have had a little bit of trouble getting into the feel and rhythm of Gregory's books. I can't say what it is, perhaps the author's style has become slightly monotonous for my tastes, but this does not take away from the fact that Gregory's books are as brilliant as they ever were!
In fact, The Constant Princess is one of the most beautifully written of all her works! Fictionally detailing the life and reign of Queen Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII's six wives, this book brings to the reader's mind this most noble of his wives. She was indeed a true princess through and through, to her death she held herself as the true queen of England and would not give ground to her usurpers. In fact in her last
letter to Henry, in the last stage of her life, she signs her name as 'Katherine the Queen'.
Born to two of the greatest monarchs in Christendom, Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile, she came to England a child bride to the then Crown Prince, Henry VII's son Arthur. As history would have it, Arthur died a mere six months after their wedding leaving Katherine a widow at 17. She was then betrothed to Henry, the younger son who was six years her junior. And the rest as they say is history!
Gregory carefully takes her reader through the early life of Catalina, Infanta of Spain; we get a glimpse of her life with her parents as they are on campaign against the Moors. The reader gets an entrance into the sweeping grandeur of the conquered palaces, where Catalina spends most of her childhood within the walls of the
now Spanish occupied harems.
From this lazy, feminine background the Infanta and Princess of Wales emerges to the male dominated, politically charged shores of 16th century England. Henry VII has claimed the crown from the blood-drenched battlefields and presents to Catalina the stock of royalty, the image of the vulgar commoner. We watch as she holds to herself as a true princess of the blood and seems to gleam among the rough horse-stock of England's dubious monarchy.
Gregory lends an almost Sheherzadean quality to the relationship between Arthur and Catalina, where she regales and entrances him with tales from far-off lands, tales of conquests and conquered, her Isabella's legendary fearlessness, her hero-worship of her father, her life in Spanish conquered Moorish palaces, and more!
We are taken through Catalina's first marriage, to her second with young Henry and her life with him; through it all we watch as she grows from a young, defiant girl to a woman in love, a woman who comes to the height of her expectations, a woman who grows to learn the strings of the English court, a woman who learns to hold her tongue and flatter, a woman who goes through the sorrow of one lost child after another, a woman who reconciles her child's worship of her parents with the reality of them, and a woman who to her dying day knew where her place in life stood.
This is indeed a book that endears an otherwise lost historical figure to the hearts of her readers. Definitely worth reading!
Book Synopsis: As youngest daughter to the Spanish monarchs and crusaders King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Catalina, princess of Wales and of Spain, was promised to the English Prince Arthur when she was three. She leaves Spain at 15 to fulfill her destiny as queen of England, where she finds true love with Arthur (after some initial sourness) as they plot the future of their kingdom together. Arthur dies young, however, leaving Catalina a widow and ineligible for the throne. Before his death, he extracts a promise from his wife to marry his younger brother Henry in order to become queen anyway, have children and rule as they had planned, a situation that can only be if Catalina denies that Arthur was ever her lover. Gregory's latest (after Earthly Joys) compellingly dramatizes how Catalina uses her faith, her cunning and her utter belief in destiny to reclaim her rightful title. By alternating tight third-person narration with Catalina's unguarded thoughts and gripping dialogue, the author presents a thorough, sympathetic portrait of her heroine and her transformation into Queen Katherine. Gregory's skill for creating suspense pulls the reader along despite the historical novel's foregone conclusion.
Synopsis Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Courtesy of Amazon.com
For more information or to purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Constant-Princess-Boleyn-Philippa-Gregory/dp/074327248X
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