Katherine – Tudor Duchess is the third book in Tony Riches’ Brandon Trilogy. Since the Tudor/Elizabethan eras are my favourite historical fiction to read, I jumped at the chance to review this. Charles Brandon and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, have always fascinated me and I’m always hoping to find a good book or two focused on their lives.
Title: Katherine – Tudor Duchess
Author: Tony Riches
Series: Brandon Trilogy #3
First Published: October 1, 2019
Publisher: Preseli Press
Categories: Historical Fiction
Acquired: from blog tour organiser Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
*** Thank you to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for providing me with a advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Attractive, wealthy and influential, Katherine Willoughby is one of the most unusual ladies of the Tudor court. A favourite of King Henry VIII, Katherine knows all his six wives, his daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and his son Edward, as well as being related by marriage to Lady Jane Grey.
She marries Tudor knight, Sir Charles Brandon, and becomes Duchess of Suffolk at the age of fourteen. Her Spanish mother, Maria de Salinas, is Queen Catherine of Aragon’s lady in waiting, so it is a challenging time for them all when King Henry marries the enigmatic Anne Boleyn.
Following Anne’s dramatic downfall, the short reign of young Catherine Howard, and the tragic death of Jane Seymour, Katherine’s young sons are tutored with the future king, Prince Edward, and become his friends.
Katherine and Charles Brandon are chosen to welcome Anna of Cleves as she arrives in England. When the royal marriage is annulled, Katherine’s good friend, Catherine Parr becomes the king’s sixth wife, and they work to promote religious reform.
When King Edward dies, his Catholic sister Mary is crowned queen and Katherine’s Protestant faith puts her family in great danger – from which there seems no escape.
Katherine’s remarkable true story continues the epic tale of the rise of the Tudors, which began with the best-selling Tudor trilogy and concludes with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Katherine Willoughby is a fascinating woman of the Tudor era
I have read A LOT of Tudor/Elizabethan historical fiction, so it has come to the point where I am more excited to find a story based on the supporting characters rather than the main players that are usually the subject of most books. Katherine Willoughby is one of those characters that I have wanted to read more about for a long time so I was excited to see how she was portrayed.
The one thing about this book is that it covers a large span of time in a very short amount of pages. Sometimes that means there are quick time jumps and some gaps in the story. I understand the need for this, otherwise the book could have been much longer, but it did leave me wanting more.
Just a small quibble – I’m not sure if it was the formatting of the book I had, but sometimes there would be a jump (from one scene to another, or sometimes a time jump) but there would be no indicator – no line break, no new heading, nothing. The jump would happen from one paragraph to the next so there were it was really confusing and and more than once I had to stop and figure out what had happened. Otherwise, the writing is descriptive and easy-to-read and makes this historical fiction easy to follow, regardless of your knowledge of the era.
A wonderful addition to Tudor era historical fiction
Other than the weird jumps, Riches does a wonderful job of giving the reader a very solid background to Katherine. Her upbringing and beliefs are what guide her decisions and choices. While she is swept up by the historical events around her, she starts to become her own person and we see an shy young girl grow up into an opinionated and smart young lady.
I wish that there was more time to get to know Katherine even more. It feels as if Riches has only scratched the surface to this fascinating woman and I’m already on the hunt for more books about her. The author obviously knows his stuff and I’m really looking forward to reading the other books in this trilogy and his other books on the Tudor era.
Tony Riches is a full-time writer and lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. After several successful non-fiction books, Tony turned to novel writing and wrote Queen Sacrifice, set in 10th century Wales, followed by The Shell, a thriller set in present day Kenya. A specialist in the history of the early Tudors, he is best known for his Tudor Trilogy. Tony’s other international best sellers include Warwick ~ The Man Behind the Wars of the Roses and The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham.
For more information please visit Tony’s website and his blog The Writing Desk. He can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Monday, November 18
Excerpt at Short Book and Scribes
Tuesday, November 19
Guest Post at On the Tudor Trail
Wednesday, November 20
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books
Thursday, November 21
Review at 100 Pages a Day
Feature at View from the Birdhouse
Friday, November 22
Feature at Cover To Cover Cafe
Monday, November 25
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Tuesday, November 26
Excerpt at The Book Junkie Reads
Wednesday, November 27
Review at Passages to the Past
Thursday, November 28
Excerpt at Chicks, Rogues and Scandals
Monday, December 2
Review at book frolic
Review at History + Fiction + Spirit
Tuesday, December 3
Review at Nursebookie
Wednesday, December 4
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit
Thursday, December 5
Review at Donna’s Book Blog
Review at Curling up by the Fire
Friday, December 6
Excerpt at Coffee and Ink
Review at A Darn Good Read
During the Blog Tour, we are giving away two paperbacks of Katherine-Tudor Duchess by Tony Riches! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.
Giveaway Rules
– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on December 6th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Paperback giveaway is open internationally.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.
I love books set in that time period. Great review ❤️
Thanks Tessa! Me too! It’s my favourite time period for historical fiction. Do you have any favourites to recommend?
Philippa Gregory comes immediately to mind. She’s done quite a few. There was one by Jane Dunn, I think, about Mary Queen of Scots that I liked. My ancestors are almost 100% Scottish, English, and Irish with the largest part being Scottish – so Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I intrigue me ☺️
Thanks for the great review, Stephanie! We appreciate you hosting Tony’s blog tour!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours
Always a pleasure Amy! Thanks for having me!
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