{"product_id":"the-sixth-wife-isbn-9780609810262","title":"The Sixth Wife","description":"\u003cb\u003eDangerous court intrigue and affairs of the heart collide as renowned novelist Jean   Plaidy tells the story of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six queens.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Henry   VIII’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard, was both foolish and unfaithful, and she paid   for it with her life. Henry vowed that his sixth wife would be different, and she   was. Katherine Parr was twice widowed and thirty-one years old. A thoughtful, well-read   lady, she was known at court for her unblemished reputation and her kind heart. She   had hoped to marry for love and had set her heart on Thomas Seymour, the dashing   brother of Henry’s third queen. But the aging king—more in need of a nurse than a   wife—was drawn to her, and Katherine could not refuse his proposal of marriage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Queen Katherine was able to soothe the King’s notorious temper, and his three children   grew fond of her, the only mother they had ever really known. Trapped in a loveless   marriage to a volatile tyrant, books were Katherine’s consolation. But among her   intellectual pursuits was an interest in Lutheranism—a religion that the king saw   as a threat to his supremacy as head of the new Church of England. Courtiers envious   of the Queen’s influence over Henry sought to destroy her by linking her with the   “radical” religious reformers. Henry raged that Katherine had betrayed him, and had   a warrant drawn up for her arrest and imprisonment. At court it was whispered that   the king would soon execute yet another wife. Henry’s sixth wife would have to rely   on her wits to survive where two other women had perished. . . .“Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama.” —\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003eJean Plaidy, one of the preeminent authors of historical fiction for most of the twentieth century, is the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, also known as Victoria Holt. Jean Plaidy’s novels had sold more than 14 million copies worldwide by the time of her death in 1993.\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER I\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpring had come to England. There were marsh marigolds along the  banks of the river, and in the royal park the saxifrage showed gold  and green on the damp sweet-smelling earth; the buds were bursting  open in the hedgerows; and the songs of the thrush and the blackbird  filled the air.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his royal palace of Greenwich, his \"Manor of Pleazaunce,\" the  best-loved of all his palaces because it was his birthplace, the King  was aware of the coming of spring. He was melancholy and he knew the  reason for his melancholy. It was little more than a year since his  fascinating but unfaithful wife had, at his command, lost her head. A  whole year! It was a long time to be without a wife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe small eyes seemed to sink into the puffy face, the mouth grew  prim, as he thought of all he had suffered at the hands of his wives.  The first and second had deceived him; he had divorced one and  beheaded the other; the third had died giving him his son; the fourth  he had not loved at all and had lost no time in divorcing her; and  the fifth—that faithless wanton, Catharine Howard—whom for the last  year he had been unable to banish from his thoughts, had walked out  to Tower Green on a February day of last year and laid her head on  the block.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis was an unnatural deprivation for a man to suffer; and, he  reminded himself, if I am a King, I am also a man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd the remedy for his melancholy? A wife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe King must look for a sixth wife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlustering March winds buffeted the walls of a mansion close to the  Charterhouse Priory in the City of London. On one of the window  seats, her tapestry in her hands—although she was paying little  attention to the design she was working—sat a woman. She was small  and her hair, which was fair and abundant, showed beneath her hood of  black velvet; her gown of the same material was richly embroidered,  but in dark colors; and the skirt was open in the front to display  her silk petticoat, which was a somber shade of purple; the long veil  flowing from the back of her headdress proclaimed her a widow. Her  face was charming, but the charm came from its expression rather than  a regularity of features; at the moment it seemed to wear a borrowed  beauty; her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright, and it was as  though this beauty had snatched away ten years of her thirty and made  her a young woman of twenty again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was in love; and the eager glances which she cast down at the  courtyard suggested that she was waiting for her lover.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy should she not have a lover? She had married twice to please her  family. Why should she not marry this time to please herself?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSoon he would come riding into the courtyard. He would look up and  she would wave her hand, for there was no subterfuge in her nature,  and she would not hide her feelings. He was quite sure that she loved  him and that he had only to ask her to become Lady Seymour and she  would most readily agree.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was the handsomest man in the King's court. It was not only her  love that told her this. Others said the same; even his enemies—and  he had many—granted him that. He was the brother-in-law of the King;  and he was a favorite of the King, for all knew that the latter liked  to have about him those who were gay, young and handsome. Some  thought that Thomas Seymour had become too ambitious since his sister  Jane had married the King; others said that favors won through a  female relative and not as a reward for a man's prowess, were built  on flimsy foundations. Thomas, they said, lacked the ability of his  elder brother, Edward, Lord Hertford. Edward had crafty diplomacy to  set against Thomas's charm. Edward was cautious; Thomas was reckless.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt mattered not, Katharine, the widow, assured herself. He was the  most charming, the most delightful of companions. He was the only man  she would ever love, and he loved her too. He was going to ask her to  marry him and she—widow of a few months though she was—was going to  marry him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eContemplating her third marriage must naturally make her think of the  other two. They had been no real marriages. She smiled now, a little  tenderly, thinking of the poor frightened child whom they had married  to Lord Borough of Gainsborough, an elderly widower, with children  who had seemed to Katharine quite old. Her Mother had arranged that  match, and she and her sister and brother had always obeyed their  mother without question. Katharine could not remember her father, for  Sir Thomas Parr had died when she was only four; and in the capable  hands of his wife, Maud, he had left the care of his children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Parr had been a stern mother, continually scheming for the  advancement of her children; and when young Katharine had been told  she was to marry the rich Lord Borough, it had not occurred to her to  protest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd perhaps, Katharine told herself, as she threaded her needle with  crimson silk, she had not been so unfortunate, for my Lord Borough  had proved to be a kindly man, gentle and tender, and not so  demanding as a young man might have been. She had been sorry when at  the age of fifteen she had found herself to be a rich widow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first widowhood had been allowed to last only two or three years  when another wealthy widower had been found for her. John Neville,  Lord Latimer, was an excellent match, so said her family; and  recognizing in him the same kindly tolerance which had made her first  marriage less frightening than it might so easily have been, and  finding friendship with his grown-up children, Katharine had allowed  herself to be married a second time—indeed, she had had little say  in the matter—and had taken up residence in the beautiful mansion of  Snape Hall, or sometimes in another of his houses in Worcester, or,  when they visited London, here in the mansion near the Charterhouse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith Lord Latimer she had attended court and had become acquainted  with the Princess Mary, who was of an age similar to her own; they  had interests in common and had found pleasure in each other's  company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe had been a good wife to Lord Latimer; she had nursed him in  sickness and she had astonished him with her wisdom, since but for  her he might have come to a tragic end. He had taken an active part  in the \"Pilgrimage of Grace,\" that insurrection against the reforms  of the King and Cromwell, and it was only by great good fortune that  he had escaped the King's wrath; and this was due to his listening to  Katharine's entreaties that he should not join in the second rising.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatharine could shudder now remembering those times, but they were  behind her since she was widowed for the second time. She was still  young—only in her thirty-first year—and she was rich, possessing  several stately mansions and the fortunes inherited from two  husbands. She was also in love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSir Thomas Seymour was quite different from either Lord Borough or  Lord Latimer. The flashing eyes, the chestnut beard, the curling  hair, the great stature, the booming voice, the air of jaunty  recklessness, the sailor's oaths which rose to his lips at the least  provocation, set him apart; he was a man in a thousand. Perhaps she  was rather foolish, she a widow of thirty, to love the most charming  man at court. She would certainly have been had she not been sure  that her affection was returned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs she stitched she thought of their meetings in this mansion. Lord  Latimer had been a Catholic, but she even during his lifetime had  been attracted by the New Religion. She had friends who were  interested in it; and how she had enjoyed their conversations, the  books which had to be smuggled to her apartments because they were  forbidden reading. She had never talked to Lord Latimer of her  feelings for the New Religion. How could she when he was a staunch  Catholic and supported Rome with such fervor that he was ready to  disobey the King and risk his life to do so? She had been taught that  it was a wife's duty to follow her husband in all things. But when  Lord Latimer had died there seemed no longer any reason why she  should not admit to herself that she had these Protestant leanings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe had first become interested through her conversations with a  friend named Anne Askew, the daughter of a squire of Lincoln. Anne  was fervent in her beliefs and Katharine felt that she herself could  never be so pious. Her intentions were noble, but worldly matters  came between her and her piety. She smiled as she paused in her work  to smooth the folds of her velvet gown; she enjoyed wearing beautiful  garments and rich ornaments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was at a religious gathering which she had arranged should take  place in this house that she had first become aware of Thomas. He had  looked incongruous at the gathering; he had not seemed in the least  devout; his extravagant clothes and gay manners set him apart. Did he  come for religious reasons? She doubted it. He came because the  meetings were anti-Catholic and antagonistic to those--such as the  Duke of Norfolk, Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Sir Thomas  Wriothesley—who wished to wrest the King's favor from himself and  his family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatharine was not interested in his reasons for coming; she only  cared that he came; and from the moment he had selected her for his  attention, she had to admit that the religious purpose of the  gatherings seemed to lose its importance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt that moment her woman, Nan, came into the room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNan was younger than Katharine by a year or two; dark-haired and  pretty, she had been with Katharine since her marriage with Lord  Latimer; she was a very loving servant.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was a cloud in Nan's eyes today because she knew the reason for  her mistress's elation, and it disturbed her. Nan felt that Katharine  judged all men by the two she had married, and innocently thought  that Sir Thomas Seymour was a younger, more handsome and more  charming version of Lord Latimer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, Nan,\" said Katharine, \"how do you think the pattern goes?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNan came and surveyed it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Very well, my lady.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is cold today. But the spring will soon be here. There are signs  of it everywhere.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"They are saying, my lady, that the King feels the effects of spring.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The King?.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, my lady. And it is rumored that he looks for a new wife.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, yes.\" Katharine glanced down at her embroidery. Her mood had  become solemn. There was not a lady at court who did not become  solemn at the thought of the King's last marriage, which had ended so  tragically just over a year ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It seems such a short while ago that we had a Queen,\" went on Nan.  \"We thought the King was happy at last. And then quite suddenly . .  .\" She paused and shivered. \"She was so pretty,\" she went on. \"I do  not think I ever saw anyone quite so pretty. Queen Anne Boleyn was  more striking to look at--more fascinating too, they say--but I do  not think I ever saw one so dainty, so sweet to look upon as Queen  Catharine Howard.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Don't speak of it, Nan. It is . . . upsetting.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Nan went on: \"I remember how she ran screaming down the gallery  at Hampton Court when the King was at chapel. I can't forget the  sound of her voice.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is best forgotten, Nan.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But I shall never forget. I was there at the end. I should not have  gone, but I could not help it. I had to go. And I saw her walk out  and lay her pretty head on the block . . . like a child who had  learned her lesson. They say she practiced how she should do it while  she was waiting in her cell. And now, my lady, the King looks for a  sixth wife.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A sixth wife!\" said Katharine. \"How I pity her . . . whoever she  shall be. But what are we saying? This is no affair of ours. The King  grows older—although doubtless it is treason to say so. Let us hope  he is putting all thought of another marriage from him. And, if he  should marry, now that he is older, there is less likelihood of his  fancy's straying.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It did not stray from Catharine Howard, my lady.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Let us not speak of it. Do I hear the sound of horses' hooves in the  courtyard?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe looked out of the window, smiling, for riding into the courtyard  was Thomas Seymour.A Novel of the Tudors","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303407767781,"sku":"NP9780609810262","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780609810262.jpg?v=1767741537","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-sixth-wife-isbn-9780609810262","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}