This was an interesting look at the last wife of Henry VIII, Katherine Parr. Doing what she can to follow what little documented evidence there is of Parr's early life, the author follows Katherine's story from birth on the fringes of society to her first and second marriages as she gained greater prominence and became closer to the royal court.

After the death of her second husband, Katherine was wooed by both Thomas Seymour and Henry VIII. Seymour bowed out gracefully, and Katherine became Queen of England. Her role as queen was to have a lasting effect, especially on her stepdaughter, the future Elizabeth I, who watched Katherine govern in the King's name when he named her Regent. After Henry's death, Katherine married Thomas Seymour, a union which ended in her death after the birth of a daughter.

The book excels in telling Katherine's story from the time she became Queen of England. She gave Henry VIII and his children a family life and brought them closer together. She was a very successful Regent during her husband's absence on a campaign. And she began work on various religious writings which were held in high acclaim. All of this is told in great detail.

Some of the book, such as the mentions of Henry's Pilgrimage of Grace, became extremely boring to read. But it is worth it to press through in order to gain a full view of this fascinating life. ( )

The sixth wife of Henry VIII was truly remarkable, and one of my favorite historical characters. Sharp and intelligent, she out foxed the members of Henry's court, and kept her life when it was in peril.

A very kind mother to Henry's three children, she was sensitive to know that Mary, in particular, needed a lot of love given the fact that her mother was banished not only from court, but from her daughter whom she did not see before she died.

Previously married twice before, she made wise arrangements and came to Henry with her own cache of fortune from her previous husbands.

Sadly, at the end of her life, after Henry died, she made a foolish choice and married Thomas Seymour. Quite the cad, he previously tried to weasel his way into Elizabeth's young life. Hurting Katherine beyond redemption, he outwardly flirted and wooed Elizabeth. Banned from Katherine's presence, while she was young and not as sharp as when she became queen, Elizabeth learned from the mistake of Thomas Seymour and his advances.

Katherine died shortly after birthing a daughter, whom she name Mary in honor of Princess Mary, Henry's first child, as a result of his first marriage with Catherine of Arragon.

The author did an excellent job at researching the material or the book. Well written, and very well researched, I recommend this to anyone who is interested in the wives of Henry. ( )

An interesting book, although a bit dry in places.

I was quite interested in some of the characters connected with Katherine like Thomas Seymour who Elizabeth said had "much wit and very little judgement".

I found some of the material fairly familiar, probably because there's so much coverage of Tudor times in books and on TV. Even so, it's quite interesting to read about the period between Anne Boleyn's execution and Elizabeth's reign. ( )

A good biography of Henry VIII's last wife. What I appreciated about this book was the depiction of Katherine's early years and first two marriages, before she became the wife of a king. Katherine's early life displays a great deal about what it was like to be a noblewoman in Tudor England, showing the privileges along with the perils and struggles they faced. Katherine's life also shows how a noble family could rise together, as Katherine's brother and sister also became prominent in the royal court by the time Katherine became queen. I do wish the author had spent more time on Katherine's final marriage to Thomas Seymour, but this is overall an excellent biography of a remarkable queen. ( )

Meticulously researched, accessibly written and long overdue. I think almost everyone knows who Katherine Parr was, but a lot of what everyone knows about her is wrong. This book sets out to unearth the real woman behind the apocrypha, and for my money, succeeds.

The analysis of her first two marriages is fascinating. The story of how she came to marry Henry is more well-known but still quite interesting. The growth of Parr's Protestant identity is researched and explained, with a lovely explication of Anne Askew and how her legend relates to the verifiable historical facts. The brief coda, Parr's fourth marriage, is dissected and discussed more thoroughly and convincingly than I've ever seen.

Highly recommended for Tudor history geeks. ( )