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The Taming of the Queen
The Taming of the Queen
The Taming of the Queen
Audiobook18 hours

The Taming of the Queen

Written by Philippa Gregory

Narrated by Bianca Amato

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

By the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a novel of passion and power at the court of a medieval killer, a riveting new Tudor tale featuring King Henry VIII’s sixth wife Kateryn Parr.

Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives—King Henry VIII—commands her to marry him.

Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted sixteen months, the one before barely half a year. But Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn’s trust in him grows as she unites the royal family, creates a radical study circle at the heart of the court, and rules the kingdom as Regent.

But is this enough to keep her safe? A leader of religious reform and the first woman to publish in English, Kateryn stands out as an independent woman with a mind of her own. But she cannot save the Protestants, under threat for their faith, and Henry’s dangerous gaze turns on her. The traditional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy—the punishment is death by fire and the king’s name is on the warrant...

From the bestselling author who has illuminated all of Henry’s queens comes a deeply intimate portrayal of the last: a woman who longed for passion, power, and education at the court of a medieval killer.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 25, 2015
ISBN9781442389748
Author

Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

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Reviews for The Taming of the Queen

Rating: 4.411764697478992 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great book about Kateryn Parr. I have to admit I don’t remember reading much about her. We get a look at what her thoughts about Henry might have been and what their relationship was like. It is fascinating that she was the first queen to be a published as an author. She was also educated and we get a sense that she enjoyed learning. She is caught in a loveless marriage and is struggling within Henry’s constraints to be herself. I have to admit that this book gave me a new look at Henry VIII. While he did kill off his wives and demand submission, I don’t recall other books mentioning that he was abusive physically. He whips Kateryn Parr to “make her behave” and teach her a lesson. I wonder if there is any documentation that this really occurred? It makes for an interesting story though.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was surprised to find that this is among my favourites of Gregory´s novels: a wonderful yarn of Henry´s least known queen. Superbly written - was only mildly disappointed that the book ended with the death of H8 rather than hers. Nonetheless, a great read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I adore historical fiction and have read extensively about the Tudors, and yet when Philippa Gregory’s Taming of the Queen was released, I had to read it. Taming of the Queen is centered on Henry VIII’s last wife, Kateryn Parr (or Catherine), and as is typical with Gregory’s woks, it is well researched and beautifully written. I look forward to Gregory’s next book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I have loved Philippa Gregory ever since The Other Boleyn Girl. This book covered the marriage of Katherine Parr and Henry VIII. Katherine was Henry's last wife and a scholar. She worked on translating the bible at a time when it was very dangerous for a woman to express her own opinions. By the time Katherine married Henry he already had two of his wives killed and he was in a foul temper from the constant pain of a leg wound. To say their marriage was not the most pleasant of times for Katherine is a bit of an understatement. She found herself married to a megalomaniac obese man, old enough to be her father and who had a putrid smelling leg wound. On top of that she was always in fear that he would have her killed so he could move in a younger replacement. Aside from the marriage other interesting historical events covered by this book include the sinking of the Mary Rose and the torture of Anne of Askew. I found the first 100 pages a bit slow with endless talk of religion but the last third of the book kicked into gear. If you don't know anything about Henry's last wife this would be a good book to read but if you are already familiar with her story you can take a pass on this one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Katheryn Parr was the last of Henry VIII's six wives, and one of only two to survive him. A women with an uncharacteristically independent streak, she relied heavily on the ability of her inner circle to faithfully protect secrets that might arouse the suspicion of her murderous husband. It didn't help that, from the start, she was pining for another (Thomas Seymour). Katheryn played an important role realizing Henry's own church (now the Church of England) by bringing religion into the English language and improving accessibility among peasants and lords alike. She was the first woman to publish a book under her own name, but this independence was enough to make Henry wary, and ultimately she had to endure persecution meant to entrap her into self-incriminating. At the time of Henry's death, Katheryn played the game and acted the part of an obsequious, obedient wife who deferred to Henry's slightest whim.This fictionalized account of Katheryn Parr's story portrayed the queen as a rather unhappy figure. From a brief fling with Thomas Seymour at the outset, she doted on his career and memories of their liaison throughout the book, trying hard to steal moments while never giving reason for Henry to become murderously suspicious. In the epilogue, Gregory explains Parr and Seymour did marry shortly after Henry's death, but their marriage was not a happy one. Perhaps Parr was just a miserable person.As a historical novel goes, Gregory gets it mostly right and explains in the end some of the notable things created out of whole cloth. Nearly all of Parr's private dialogue is fictionalized, of course; and if Gregory got her personality right, then the queen led a life to be pitied, not admired.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Easy reading imagining of Katherine Parr's marriage to Henry VIII; how she walked a tightrope between her interests as a religious reformer and scholar, whilst endeavouring to be seen at all times as beyond reproach for her own safety.Henry trusted her to rule in his absence, and so I would have expected more political detail. The Queen portrayed here seemed rather cocooned, apart from the occasional nod, from the policy makers at Court. Though lots of repetitive detail on Henry's stinking leg wound and gargantuan appetite. She was also responsible for bringing the heirs to court and forming bonds with them, and so I'm surprised that Gregory didn't dramatise how Katherine and Mary accommodated their different religious views in a novel dominated by the importance of belief.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kateryn Parr, sixth and final wife of Henry VIII is star of the show in this novel by the queen of historical fiction. I have to say that although I like and read all things tudor, KP is probably the queen that I have read about the least. However she was a fascinating lady who achieved so much, such as having books published in her own name and reuniting tbe royal children. The book as always started of with gusto and I was well in tudor England. However I found that the book became very long and became repetitive as PG novels can be. The research is there and if you don't know alot about KP then its there for you in this book. However I found myself getting bored because I felt the book just went on and on. The book concludes with the death of Henry VIII but KP life continues as she marries Thomas Seymour and they have a child. For me the story would have been better if it was less repetitive and shorter then the story could have included KP life after Henry.A very average read from a great historian and writer.I have been to Sudeley Castle where Kateryn Parr lived with Thomas Seymour and where she is buried and its well worth a visit.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel focuses on Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife, who managed to outlive him. The book does not cover her entire life, but it starts when Katherine finds out the King of England – the King who has had 2 previous wives killed, set 2 more aside, and 1 died in childbirth – wants to marry her. It's not even possible to say no, though Katherine is in love with Thomas Seymour. Katherine needs to hide her love for Thomas, and at the same time, she would like to push Henry for further religious reforms. The book ends with a short wrap-up after Henry dies, though Katherine didn't live much longer after Henry. I really enjoyed this. I listened to the audio and it was done well: I didn't lose interest. Katherine is one of Henry's wives who I've not read very much about, so this was interesting. Of course, it was fiction, so liberties were taken, but Gregory does provide a historical note at the end. Katherine was a very smart woman and later (after Henry died) published a book under her own name.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    i have grown tired of phil, but i was interested in kp. what a difficult life she had!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As usual Philippa Gregory has brought the life and times of the English kings and queens to life. Almost everyone in the English-speaking world must know that King Henry VIII had six wives. The mnemonic I learned to remember how that occurred was "divorced (Katherine of Aragon), beheaded (Anne Boleyn), dead (Jane Seymour), divorced (Anne of Cleves), beheaded (Katherine Howard), survived (Kateryn Parr)". This book is about the one wife that survived, Kateryn Parr.By the time Kateryn Parr wed King Henry in 1543, Henry was grossly obese and had a leg wound that would not heal. He had three children from his first three wives but only one male heir, Edward, who was six years old. Although Henry had reformed the Church of England in order to get a divorce from Katherine of Aragon, he had never fully accepted the Protestant church as espoused by Martin Luther. Kateryn came from a family of reformers and they had hopes that she would be able to convince the king to bring about more reforms. At first Henry indulged Kateryn and she was instrumental in translating some prayers and psalms into English so the common person could understand them. Later, as Henry's mercurial temper turned away from reform, Kateryn was endangered by her reformist views. Henry's Catholic advisors convinced him that Kateryn was plotting treason and he authorized a warrant for her arrest. Kateryn was warned about this and she managed to abase herself before Henry to convince him to withdraw the warrant. The title refers to this occasion which Henry called "The Taming of the Queen". The threat of arrest was always present in their relationship thereafter but fortunately Henry succumbed to one of his maladies and died. What a relief that must have been for the Queen.Gregory paints a distasteful picture of King Henry at this time in his life. He was a violent, boastful man who loved to play people off against each other. Even his closest friends and advisors were likely to fall out of favour and end up in the Tower or on the gibbet.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5


    This is a fictional account of Kathrine Parr the surviving Queen and last wife of Henry VIII....

    I found it to be overly long with unnecessary fictitious dialog, but certainly interesting..... I'll tell you the more I read about Henry VIII, the more I dislike him and the more I'm convinced that he had diabetes....

    The book highlighted her love of intellectual pursuits and church reform, her dedication to England as regent, her undying love for Thomas Seymour, and her insistence that Henry's children be raised together as a family.

    It also highlighted was Henry's skills of spiteful manipulation pitting people/factions against each other so to insure their fear& loyalty to him as well as keeping them all insecure in their never-ending quest for power.

    What I didn't know was that the painting of Henry, Edward, , the Queen (Katherine), Mary, & Elizabeth was painted with Jane Seymour's face, while Katherine was the Queen sitting for the portrait!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good book about Henry VIII's last wife, Katherine Parr, and the perilous path she navigated in the Tudor court. The author digs into the characters and she has a deeply psychological approach to the relationship between Henry VIII and Katherine Parr, which sets this book apart from many others on the topic. A decent read and one that pretty much sticks to the historical record while also providing rich fictional depth.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kateryn Parr, the least known of Henry's wives, this is a good look at this queen and the fear and hope she lived with daily. My first surprise was the spelling of her name, Kateryn, for some reason I always thought she was another Katherine. I think Gregory's biggest skill is setting a scene, she takes the reader back to this Tudor time period, most thoroughly. As soon as I started reading I was captivated into another reading of Henry and his many wives.I have read previous novels about this queen so there was little in this that was new. This was just a more thorough telling, especially of her writings and endeavors on transcribing many of the Latin psalms and teaching into English for all to enjoy. Her treatment of the King's children was also portrayed in depth, she made a little family of them all, they learned from her and she learned from them. So this was a very good atmospheric read. Just not too much new here for me, but to a new reader of this queen, I am sure they will love this and be captivated by this most intelligent queen who managed to outlive the notorious Henry.ARC from NetGalley.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Liked this book much better than I thought. I don't think I have ever read anything by P Gregory and always considered it to be light weight, but this was interesting, and I believe a pretty fair representation of the life of Kathryn Parr, Henry VIII's last wife, the one that survived. Much of the book centers around the interpretation of the scriptures and the controversy over translating the Bible into English. There is a lot of church history of Catholicism vs. Lutheranism and the role of Henry in the reformation of the church in England. It was readable, interesting, and informative.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I would like to give a big shout-out to Bookreporter.com for awarding me the audio version of this book, and for introducing me to the historical fiction of Phillipa Gregory. This was my first book by this author, but I hope to read much more by her.In a short note at the end of this novel, the author comments about Kateryn Parr, her courage and intelligence, and states that it is quite surprising that she is not better known, for her role as the last wife of King Henry VIII, and her incredible work as a scholar. Kateryn was the first woman to publish her own writing in her own name, in English, and certain of her works survive to this day.In this tremendously satisfying portrait of the queen, her bravery as well as her quick mind are portrayed as the only things that kept her alive; when the king was advised by those around him to arrest her for treason, he too quickly agreed. It was only Kateryn's understanding of how this man thought that saved her life. Throughout the four years of her marriage to Henry, Kateryn learned how to sometimes lead him to her own way of thinking, but also to never contradict his egomaniacal views of himself. Kateryn was instrumental in pushing for the reforms of the church in England, and dared to stand firm in regard to the Bible being made available to even the common people, and in English! The narrative read by Bianca Amato helped enhance this story, and contributed to keeping me spellbound. I want to read more of the author's novels on the Tudors and their reign in England.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ot at thrips moment I need m much more time to speak my praise for this great book
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Philippa Gregory’s, THE TAMING OF THE QUEEN, was somewhat painful to read. How would any of us react to life under a tyrannical king such as Henry VIII, let alone be married to him?Kateryn Parr was Henry’s 6th wife and barely survived the court’s plots and counterplots, Henry’s murderous tendencies and egomania and mental illnesses.Kateryn was very scholarly and dared to write “original material in English for publication and put her own name on the title page.” She served as regent for a time when Henry went to war in France and she was very motherly to Henry’s three (largely) ignored children.Ms. Gregory’s writing is excellent. Her research is excellent. The book includes an author’s note and an extensive bibliography. There is also a ‘reading group’ guide.Ms. Gregory has opened up a whole new world of historical fiction with her ‘Cousins’ War’ and ‘Tudor Court’ series. I am a big fan.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love the narrators voice it’s so calming and even my husband loves listening to her read
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thank God Phillippa Gregory is hopefully finished with the Cousins War books - I really couldn't take any more of that. This book is about Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife. I do love how Gregory uses the language, shaping the words, the conversation, the inflection to accurately reflect how people spoke during the period of which she writes. It's very elegant and really quite admirable. I enjoyed this book very much, which has been a rare occurrence for me lately - so thank you!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Philippa Gregory always takes a bit more leeway with her work than some other authors, but it's thoroughly enjoyable. 3.5 stars. It's interesting to read about what the last queen of Henry the VII did.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Henry's last marriage, to Kathryn Parr who managed, just to survive him. Author suggests she was mad for Thomas Seymour really all the time, but later married and died in childbirth. I wonder whether non-Christians would really get into this, there is a lot about the Bible. Henry is shown up as cruel and a merciless player of parties against each other, fiendishly cruel really.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Taming of the Queen is set in the 1540s, and is narrated by Kateryn Parr, the sixth and surviving wife of Henry VIII. Probably the least known of Henry's six wives, she is also quite different from the others. When Henry proposed, she was already in her early 30s, had been widowed twice, and was interested in religious study. She was secretly in love with another man, Lord Thomas Seymour, but knew she could not turn down the King's marriage proposal. Most books dealing with the court of Henry VIII seem to focus on his early years but in this book, the king is hugely obese and crippled by his putrid leg ulcer.

    In some cases Henry seems to trust Kateryn and allows her to act as regent in England while he's in France. She was instrumental in bringing all three of his children together for the first time and he seemed to appreciate that. He enjoyed setting people on each other and he did that to Kateryn as well, one moment encouraging her to freely speak and then turning on her and requiring complete submission. She knew failure to meet his expectations will lead to a one-way trip to the Tower.

    I found this a very interesting book but I was much more interested in the court happenings than I was with some of the repetitive focus on religious reform. The author did a first rate job of capturing the fear and uncertainty that Kateryn must have felt. While not my favorite Philippa Gregory book, I enjoyed it very much.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A wonderful and thought-provoking look into the life of the wife who lived.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Raw and beautiful and uplifting
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    While I don't think this collection is as strong as Milk & Honey, I still enjoyed it greatly. Rupi Kaur writes simple poetry that celebrates and reveals the experiences that many women share. While she may not meet the academic standards of some, there is great satisfaction to be found in reading poems that in which one can identify their past or present selves.