The Last Wife of Henry VIII

By: Carolly Erickson

Narrated by: Terry Donnelly

From the luxuries of court to the last gory years of the outsize King Henry when heads rolled and England trembled, Catherine bestrode her destiny and survived to marry her true love. She was the least known of Henry VIII's six wives, but was the cleverest of them all.

Alluring, witty, and resourceful, she attracted the king's lust and, though in love with the handsome Thomas Seymour, was thrown into the snakepit of the royal court. While victims of the king's wrath suffered torture and execution, Catherine withstood the onslaught, even when Henry sought to replace her with a seventh wife. She survived her royal husband, and found happiness with Seymour - but it was shadowed by rivalry with the young Princess Elizabeth, whose affection Seymour coveted. Catherine won the contest, but at great cost.

©2006 Carolly Erickson (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Erickson, known best for her lively and popular histories...engages with this fictionalized, first-person life of Catherine Parr." (Publishers Weekly)

Moving Audiobook

Overdramatic at times but overall a great audiobook. No matter how many books you read and or audiobooks you listen to, you can`t help but think what a pig Henry was. This audiobook lays that out pretty clearly and it sounds reasonable -so many lives were at least inconvenienced and at most terminated b/c of a self-centered, arrogant, indulgent and royal pain of an excuse. Catherine really had to have her wits about her and this audiobook has it all - as she gets near the end of her life it gets very moving. Definitely recommend to all.

Good story

The narrator does a good job! The story was slow at first but gets much better. I really enjoyed listening to this book!

Loved the book - didn't love to listen

Loved the book - the detail, the story. A bit slow in the beginning - but worth the listen - BUT I found that I had to work really hard to NOT focus on the narrator's irritating way of speaking. I will go out of my way to avoid any audiobooks done by her again. Almost ruined it for me.

Poor Henry

Well written. Well narrated.
However, I am now convinced that the Tudor Court was a nest of vipers obsessed with religion, sex & violence - and not a scrap of common sense between them!

Interesting

Interesting story - love story. Not the mushy kind or the kind that is of a romance novel - this is good.

good book

it was good and accurate but the ending was toooo dramatic and a bit silly

Much too long!

I listened to Philippa Gregory's book The Boleyn Inheritance and loved it. So I tried The Last Wife of Henry VIII. It didn't even come close to Philippa Gregory's book. It was too long and the first part was boring. The second part was better, but I still feel that it was a waste of my time.

not too exciting

Is there anything you would change about this book?

What do you expect me to say? Re-write the book?


The story as such is dragging along. Even though I love the topic - Henry VIII - I fell asleep quickly. But as I know the background well, I could just keep listening till I finally got through.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The book failed to present high lights. Everything was watered down to "and then and then and then".

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Terry Donnelly?

I found it difficult to listen to the reader and every time I got on to the story, I had to learn to overhear her strange diction. The ongoing raised voice at the end of the sentence and the way she spoke in her head was annoying me. I will surely not buy anything read by her again.

Did The Last Wife of Henry VIII inspire you to do anything?

Yes, forget about the author as a history book writer.
And I keep the reader in mind to never buy anything read by her again.

Any additional comments?

It adds to the long list of: no good stories at audible.com

Exceptional book

This book is very well written and enjoyable. The only suggestion I would make is, if Catherine was so religious as to be leading her ladies in Bible study and writing religious books, this would have colored her thoughts more. And wouldn’t she have needed to reconcile more about having an affair? But aside from that, this was a very well done story.

Great read!

What made the experience of listening to The Last Wife of Henry VIII the most enjoyable?

The "behind the scenes" details and story-line. This book followed what I have known in history about these relationships very closely...some speculation of course, because it's fiction, but very closely ties to the history lessons...

Which scene was your favorite?

The revealing of the "Saint Fraud"...I won't say more so as not to ruin it for you....

If you could rename The Last Wife of Henry VIII, what would you call it?

Catherine Parr, The Nurturing Queen