Katherine Howard has always been my least favorite of the wives of Henry VIII. She lacked the royal dignity of Katherine of Aragon, the wit and sophistication of her cousin Anne Boleyn, the quiet calculation of Jane Seymour, the sweet (yet canny) acceptance of Anne of Cleves, and the mature calm of Katherine Parr. Katherine Howard was little more then a uneducated, teenage nitwit. The fact that she was uneducated was completely out of her control. The fact of her youth is more an indictment against fat, salacious King Henry then herself. However, the fact of her nit-wittery can be firmly laid at the foot of her royal bed, beside the equally stupid figure of Thomas Culpepper. Were these two people on crack? Who the heck thought that carrying on an adulterous sexual affair under the nose of their rampantly paranoid sovereign was a smart move? Does this monumental lapse of self-control (not to mention good judgement) completely cement the fact that sex IS the most driving force in the universe?I've read several fiction and non-fiction accounts of Katherine Howard's rise and fall, and have always been glad to come to the end of her wretched story. This royal marriage always feels more like a Tudor-era Entertainment Tonight special on the nuptual exploits of Kim Kardashian - all flash, no substance.So when I give a fictionalized book about Katherine Howard 4 stars, you have to know that it takes one heck of a writer to render the fifth Tudor wife worthy of any sympathy and understanding that I possess. Jean Plaidy is that writer, and her tale of Katherine's sorry excuse for royal adultery makes me a bit verklempt by the time she has her pretty little empty head removed from her body. Under Plaidy's pen, Katherine is a girl more wronged against then in the wrong. She has a type of emotional purity that makes you want to put your arms around her, go buy a gallon of ice-cream with two spoons and find a quiet place to sit and have a nice long girl-chat. You sympathize with her struggles as she realizes that she's not an intellectual powerhouse - only a warm, beautiful girl who exudes a sexual charm she can't control. In the end, Katherine knows her faults, accepts them, but still stays true to her loving nature. And in the end, you as the reader can't help but love her, too.The real Katherine Howard will never be known to anyone; how she acted, what she thought about, why she did the things she did are forever lost. But if you want to read a good story about how Katherine Howard could have been, and want a story that shows this fifth wife with some redemptive qualities, this is the book for you.
I read quite a few of the books by Jean Plaidy in the Queen's of England series when I was younger. They're hard to come by since they are out of print. I decided to collect the rest (still missing one) and catch up on my royal reading. I'm hoping my feelings for this book have more to do with the fact that I've read a better one about Katherine Howard than I may no longer like the writing style. It started out fine, although I was a little disgusted by the way Katherine was allowed to behave when she moves to her grandmother's house. I would think a Duchess of the court would have better sense of what was going on in her household. But, history seems to have proven otherwise. I also felt that the author made Katherine seem much more simple than she really was. But, maybe her families ambitions were just way outside of her knowledge. The book also lacked the terror that must have been going through the young queen's mind towards the end of her life. What a tragic ending for a young women who had almost no hope from the start. I would recommend reading The Queen's Mistake by Diane Haeger over this one.
What do You think about The Rose Without A Thorn (2003)?
This is the first Jean Plaidy book that I have read. The story is told from the perspective of Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry the VIII. I picked it up after watching season 3 of the The Tudors, where she is introduced. I realized I knew nothing about her and thought the way she was portrayed was totally scandalous and I needed to know more! This book isn't quite as titillating as the TV show, of course, but it is probably closer to the truth. I found the writing very repetitive. I know the family trees and history are complicated, but I really don't need the same paragraph, word-for-word every time a character shows up explaining who he is. Sometimes I literally thought I had lost my place and was re-reading the same page again. Totally irritating. It is a very quick read, though, so I wasn't irritated for very long.This might be better for a younger reader who is just getting into historical fiction. The sex scenes are fairly mild. I'd say this is a PG kind of a book.
—ToniS
"Rose without a thorn" is what Henry VIII called his fifth wife, Katherine Howard, a callow teen when he married her. The prologue already begins with her in the Tower and sure she's about to suffer the fate of her cousin and predecessor, Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded by Henry. Katherine asks a woman with her to set down her story so she can better understand what led her to this point--the conceit of the novel that what follows is the story of her life as told to this lady. Katherine comes across as a ninny. That might be true to history, the Reader's Guide at the end of the book calls Katherine a "bimbo," but it doesn't make for an engaging first person narrator. Moreover, what the Reader's Guide calls Plaidy's "spare" style to me seems far too bare bones. We're told a lot here, a lot that happens off the stage. I never really feel as if I'm looking through Katherine's eyes or getting inside her head and the dialogue is forgettable. (And repetitive--if only I had a dollar for all the times Katherine was described as having "the Howard look.") It all seems a rather dry history lesson. Katherine is presented as having her first carnal relationship at 11-years-old. Plaidy is vague as to how far it went, but has Katherine talk of having "abandoned myself to Manox," her music teacher. I know back in the 16th Century they married very, very young--even before puberty, and people thought of children as miniature adults, but this case of child molestation (at the least) is presented so matter-of-factly, so lightly. No fear. No guilt. Katherine feels little throughout the novel and as a result I care little. And I feel that's rather unfair to the historical Katherine Howard. I have a friend whose opinions I respect who loves Plaidy--or at least loved her in her teens. I admit I found her bland when I first read her novels in my own teens, and this novel did nothing to change my mind.
—Lisa (Harmonybites)
The Rose Without a Thorn is the story of Catherine Howard (cousin of Anne Boleyn), the young and vibrant fifth wife of Henry VIII. Jean Plaidy weaves a enthralling account of her young, poor, uneducated and unsupervised life. In a first person narrative, Catherine tells us how she came to court and to the notice of the fat, old (49 to Catherine's 19)king, her short stint as queen and her demise. Having read several accounts of the young Catherine, Plaidy's had me liking her, sympathizing for the young girls lack of knowledge in almost all aspects of life. Basically running free and wild without notice or care, she is put in the path of the King to serve her unscrupulous Uncle's ambitions. I enjoyed Plaidy's writing and dialogue and plan on reading more of her Tudor series.
—Eva
