The Confession of Katherine Howard

January 10, 2011
A historically obscure lady-in-waiting provides a window into the rise and fall of Henry VIII's young fifth queen in the competent latest from Dunn (The Sixth Wife). The teenage Cat Tilney is raised in the company of the attractive and sexually precocious Katherine Howard in the household of a distant relation, the well-connected dowager duchess of Norfolk. Cat becomes Katherine's confidante and eventually follows her to court when she is made queen, and, as one of the few privy to the queen's secret affairs, Cat lands in a dangerous position when Katherine's romantic history becomes known and a ruthless investigation spreads to include Cat's own lover, Francis Dereham. Working from only a few references in the surviving records of the investigation, Dunn constructs the tale of a teenage girl in thrall to a more charismatic friend and the test of her loyalty. Though Dunn's modernization of the language can result in anachronistic turns of phrase, this is a convincing portrayal of young women made pawns in the dangerous politics of the Tudor court.

March 15, 2011

Queen Katherine's life of clothes, music and "constant partying" comes to an unpleasant end in Dunn's (The Queen's Sorrow, 2008, etc.) latest historical.

As observed by her BFF Catheryn Tilney, Henry VIII's fifth wife, Kate Howard is a bit of a tramp. Although raised in a Catholic household, Kate was apparently only pretending to be a virgin on her wedding night and since becoming queen has taken a lover. Dunn's account of 19-year-old Kate's downfall in 16th-century England uses modern language and preoccupies itself with friendships, rivalries and, above all, sex. An overlong central flashback is devoted to Cat and Kate's younger years living with the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, which is where Kate became involved with Francis Dereham, later to be Cat's lover and the first victim of Kate's fall from royal grace, taken to the Tower for questioning about his early relationship with the queen. The novel's drama is in its beginning and end, tracing Kate's swift descent: questioned, stripped of her crown jewels, pressured to admit she was pre-contracted to Francis, which would have rendered her unavailable for the royal marriage, and eventually betrayed. A postscript offers the succinct facts and fates of the protagonists.

A sexually charged version of history angled toward a Gossip Girl audience.

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February 1, 2011

In her fourth historical novel, Dunn (The Queen of Subtleties; The Sixth Wife; The Queen's Sorrow) accomplishes the immense task of chronicling the life and personality of Henry VIII's fifth wife, Katherine Howard (1524-42), with consummate skill, exceptional creativity, and a laudable attention to detail. Told from the perspective of Cat Tilney, who was a ward of the Duchess of Norfolk like Katherine, the novel follows the allied ladies as they progress from childhood to womanhood. Unlike other novels about the ill-fated queen, Dunn's Katherine is neither ignorant nor flighty but rather a young woman caught in the world she shaped after being all but abandoned by her family. Don't label Dunn's book as a new twist on an old tale, however, for it is much more than that; Katherine's relationship with Francis Dereham, which would later be her undoing, is shown for what it very possibly could have been and what it is rarely acknowledged as--a childhood crush. VERDICT An absolutely essential read for Tudor-infatuated and historical fiction fans.--Audrey M. Johnson, Arlington, VA

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