num_pages: 592
description: Ford Madox Ford’s novel about the doomed Katharine Howard, fifth queen of Henry VIII, is a neglected masterpiece.Kat Howard—intelligent, beautiful, naively outspoken, and passionately idealistic—catches the eye of Henry VIII and improbably becomes his fifth wife. A teenager who has grown up far from court, she is wholly unused to the corruption and intrigue that now surround her. It is a time of great upheaval, as unscrupulous courtiers maneuver for power while religious fanatics—both Protestant and Catholic—fight bitterly for their competing beliefs. Soon Katharine is drawn into a perilous showdown with Thomas Cromwell, the much-feared Lord Privy Seal, as her growing influence over the King begins to threaten too many powerful interests. Originally published in three parts ( The Fifth Queen, Privy Seal, and The Fifth Queen Crowned ), Ford’s novel serves up both a breathtakingly visual evocation of the Tudor world and a timeless portrayal of the insidious operations of power and fear in any era.
language: English
title: The Fifth Queen
titlecomplete: The Fifth Queen (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)
genres: 20th Century, Politics, Historical, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literature, Tudor Period, Classics, British Literature, Fiction
ratings_count: 463
series: The Fifth Queen
publisher: Penguin Classics