The Shadow Of The Pomegranate (2015) - Plot & Excerpts
"Then he began to pace up and down again.....a lion, not sure of his strength, but aware of the cage that enclosed him. The bars were strong, but his strength was growing. One day, he knew, he would break out of the cage. Then there would be nothing - no person on Earth to restrain him."The Shadow of the Pomegranate follows on from Katharine, the Virgin Widow - not only focusing on poor Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII's long-suffering first wife; but the politics in Europe, involving Katharine's father, Ferdinand of Spain (and his duplicity and sneakiness), and Louis of France, highlighting Henry's embarrassment and rage at being tricked and used by both these countries."His face was suffused with rage. The tyrant was bursting his bonds. The metamorphosis was taking place before the eyes of the Queen. The vain, good-natured boy was showing signs of the brutal egocentric man."Poor Katharine has an unenviable life. She undergoes numerous pregnancies in Henry's quest for a son - most of them resulting in a still-birth or miscarriage - and is accused (by her husband) of conniving with her father in order to serve Spain and ruin England...."But he cut in: 'I do not forget. I know full well that you have been in league with your father, whispering in my ear, tempting me to this or that project...knowing all the while that it was to your father's benefit...and not to mine'.'Henry, I swear this to be untrue.''Swear if you will. But who trusts a Spaniard?''You talk to me as though I were a stranger....and an enemy.''You are a Spaniard,' he said."On top of all of this, she then discovers that her beloved husband is having a "fling" with one of her ladies-at-Court, Bessie Blount, which in its turn has an outcome which "twists the dagger" into Katharine's rather fragile future. To me, Henry appears a very unlikeable character, self-centred, and extravagant - as demonstrated by the decadent and elaborate masques he would hold; the very opposite of his father, Henry VII. Despite all this Henry VIII is a popular King - seen as a "golden boy" - and boy! Does he know it!I love Jean Plaidy's books - and as with this book's predecessors, The Shadow of the Pomegranate is very well written. I learn a lot from her novels and would recommend them to anyone - historical fiction fan or not. Now to the next in the Tudors series......
The Shadow of the Pomegranate is the second part of the three book series about Katherine of Aragon. It spans the time period from shortly after Katherine’s marriage to Henry up until shortly after the birth of Henry’s son with Bessie Blount. This is the true heart and soul of the story of Henry and Kate.One of the things that I enjoyed was the way the story of Bessie Blount was described. The feeling that I had gotten about her before what that she wasn’t really anyone. This story made her feel like more of a person and understand what Henry might have seen in her and how he could have rationalized his liaison (not that I really liked her). Another significant part of the novel was the viewpoints of Emperor Maximilian and King Ferdinand of Spain. I hadn’t read anything up to this point that had shown an outsider perspective of him. It does seem that they really did use him for their own ends. I enjoyed the depiction of Katherine in this book – she was angry and outspoken about his affairs. Although my all time favorite characterization of Katherine still has to be in The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory.As this is an audio book, commentary on the narrator is a must. This narrator was very good. She had very convincing accents for the French, English, and Spanish characters. It added a whole new feel to everyone and helped keep the people straight. I really enjoy it when the narrator really gets into the character and their emotions. Although this is part of a trilogy, this book works well as a stand-alone – especially if you know anything about the relationship between Henry and Katherine. The other books in the trilogy are Katherine the Virgin Widow (1st book) and The King’s Secret Matter (3rd book)
What do You think about The Shadow Of The Pomegranate (2015)?
The Shadow of the Pomegranate by Jean Plaidy continues the story of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, after the events chronicled in Katharine, the Virgin Widow. The marriage of the young Henry and his older Spanish bride is plagued by their failure to produce a male heir to the throne. Political intrigues do not help their situation, either. Eventually Henry becomes quite frustrated with his life, sometimes blaming his misfortunes on having married his older brother’s widow. (view spoiler)[As this volume of Plaidy’s Tudor Saga comes to an end, Henry finally has living children, but he is deeply frustrated that his only legitimate living child is a daughter , while his union with his mistress has produced a son. (hide spoiler)]
—Theresa~OctoberLace
Please visit my blog for my full review: http://bookchateau.blogspot.com/2012/...This story begins shortly after the marriage of Katharine of Aragon and King Henry VIII and tells the tale of their tumultuous marriage, their desire for heirs and Katharine’s battle between pleasing both her husband and her father at the same time. Book 2 in the Katharine of Aragon trilogy but works as a stand-alone novel as well. Like her other novels, it was very well written and I really enjoyed the story. It was a little slow to begin with but it definitely picked up about half way through the novel.
—Kyrsta
I'm tried with this book, I really did, but I find Jean Plaidy's style, well… boring. All of her facts are well researched and she clearly knows everything on the topic, but that's all there is to the book: facts. There is no suspense or action or anything that makes a book different from a Wikipedia page, making the book such a drag to read when I could just open a history textbook for the same thing. None of the characters seem to have any depth about them, the classic stereotypes of the time: loving husband who is inevitably going to be not so loving, the poor wife who cares for her husband but is also mildly afraid of his temper, and obviously, the secret lover who is cunning, yet so naïve. I only got 92 pages into this book, but I already know how it is going to end. You could blame it on my prior knowledge of history but I'm afraid, Jean Plaidy, that everyone already knows this story, and your challenge was to turn it into something different, something worth reading, which you failed. Miserably. The most disappointing factor of this book was that I got a set of 12 of Jean Plaidy books for Christmas, all of which I'm going to have to leave on my shelf unread, as there's only one thing I hate more than unread books: boring books. I'm normally against not finishing books, but I figured with this one anyways, life is too short and I have other, more important things to do with my time than to finish a book I really do not enjoy.
—Sally
