Eighteen-year-old Catherine Howard thought she could have it all: a King and a lover! Lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's new German wife, it wasn't long before a teenage Catherine caught the King's eye. Pretty, lively and young, he swiftly made her his queen. Catherine found herself showered with riches and at the centre of a lavish court life. Dizzy with the power she suddenly possessed, she failed to realise the political realities of her life. Just over a year into her marriage, during a special service at which Henry was giving thanks to God for his wonderful wife, Archbishop Cranmer passed the King a letter, listing allegations against Catherine before she became queen. Henry asked the archbishop to investigate; he was never to see his young wife again. Told twenty years on from the perspective of Catherine's close friend, Cat Tilney, the novel tells the life of this damaged, dangerous and short-lived queen. Suzannah Dunn presents us with a feisty, determined Catherine, who refused to allow men to walk over her -- even if they did happen to be the King of England.

Genre: Historical