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Winter King

Winter King

Author(s): Thomas Penn

Location(s): England

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical

Era(s): Turn of the 15th Century

Location

Content

It was 1501. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and counter-coups. Henry VII had clambered to the top of the heap – a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who through luck, guile and ruthlessness had managed to win the throne and stay on it for sixteen years. Although he built palaces, hosted jousts, gave out lavish presents and sent ambassadors across Europe, for many he remained a usurper, a false king.
But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Now, in what would be the crowning glory of his reign, his elder son would marry a great Spanish princess. On a cold November day this girl, the sixteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon, arrived in London for a wedding upon which the fate of England would hinge…

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Remarkable … Penn brilliantly recreates the sterile atmosphere suffocating Henry’s England. His eye for time, circumstance and the telling anecdote is keen. Winter King offers us the fullest, deepest, most compelling insight into the...

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