Review ~ In the Footsteps of the Wives of Henry VIII by Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger

Amberley Books

July 2017

In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII: The visitor’s companion to the palaces, castles houses associated with Henry VIII’s iconic queens.

It's such a refreshing change to read something different about the six wives of Henry VIII. So much has been written about them both individually and collectively that sometimes I feel that there is nothing more to discover about any of them. 

And then along comes .. In the Footsteps of the Wives... which delighted me in a different sort of way. I was thrilled to learn something new, with the added bonus of also being able to picture the wives 'in situ' at their various residences. From the sunshine gardens of the Alhambra Palace in Spain, the childhood home of Katherine of Aragon, through to the cold of Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, once the home of Katherine Parr, the book takes us on a real journey of discovery. Also stopping off at Hever Castle in Kent, Wolfhall in Wiltshire and the Schloss Dussefdorf in Germany and points in between, the book is imaginatively and professionally developed so that each individual journey becomes one of discovery.

The book is easy to navigate which is an added bonus if, like me, you tend to dip in and out of factual books. There's a good index of contents which makes it easy to locate whichever wife you have a fancy to follow and a series of clear maps helps to put them in their place.The illustrations both colour and black and white give added depth and help to place the locations in context. There are also some important visitor details so that if you have an interest in visiting any of the residences, and places of interest, you can find out more by following links to websites and using the necessary post codes.

The book is very much more than just a collection of historic houses and castles, it also gives an interesting and concise history of each Queen, so that if you don't know too much about the six wives, then there is more than enough information to get you started.

If you like Tudor history and visiting the sites of Tudor castles and palaces, and also have a fascination for the six wives of Henry VIII, then I'm sure you'll enjoy this one as much as I did.

About the Authors

Sarah Morris runs the website www.anneboleynbook.co.uk dedicated to her non-fiction and fiction writing about England’s most famous queen consort.

Natalie Grueninger is a researcher, writer and educator, and founder of www.onthetudortrail.com, a site about Anne Boleyn and Tudor England.

My thanks to Philip at Amberley Books for my copy of 

 In the Footsteps of the Wives of Henry VIII

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Review ~ The Woman in the Shadow by Carol McGrath

Accent Press
July 2017

What's it all about...

When beautiful cloth merchant’s daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of twenty-two, she is determined to make herself a success in the business she has learned from her father. But there are those who oppose a woman making her own way in the world, and soon Elizabeth realises she may have some powerful enemies – enemies who also know the truth about her late husband… 

Security – and happiness – comes when Elizabeth is introduced to kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage is one based on mutual love and respect…but it isn’t always easy being the wife of an influential, headstrong man in Henry VIII’s London. The city is filled with ruthless people and strange delights – and Elizabeth realises she must adjust to the life she has chosen…or risk losing everything.

What did I think about it...

It’s always fascinating to be able to put flesh on the bones of a historical character who has, for so long, quite literally, been the woman standing in the shadow behind Henry VIII’s henchman, Thomas Cromwell. Those of us who devour Tudor history will know that there is very little recorded about Elizabeth Cromwell, and what is known is sometimes ambivalent. However, in The Woman in the Shadows, the author has taken the known facts about Elizabeth, that she was the daughter of a cloth merchant and that when she married her second husband, Thomas Cromwell,  in around 1514, she was a wealthy widow, and by taking these facts and adding the author’s own interpretation, we have been treated to a fascinating story about the intricacies of Tudor life.

Reading about lives in the shadow is rather like having your very own cloak of invisibility as you get to witness both the intimate and the dramatic events of lives which have long passed. Reading a novel by a skilful author who has a natural ability for storytelling you are immediately immersed in past events. Spicy and strong, the sight, sounds and smells of a teeming city, with its cramped and crowded houses, and its spluttering gutters brings Tudor London to life in all its pungent glory. With skilful manoeuvring we walk the same streets as Elizabeth. We mourn the loss of her first husband and gently celebrate with her in her marriage to Thomas and in doing so we discover just what life was like in Tudor London for a woman of middling means and notable intellect.

Some authors have a natural ability to bring history alive and well researched and finely delivered historical fiction is a joy to read, as not only does it inform and educate but it also entertains on a high level. The Woman in the Shadows is one of those finely crafted stories by an author who knows and understands history and who gets right into the minutiae of Tudor life. This gives us a fascinating glimpse into the Cromwell marriage and allows us to see a very different side of the chameleon like statesman, and finally to get to see Elizabeth Cromwell as woman in her own right.

You can read a guest post by the author, Carol McGrath on the role of Tudor Women by clicking here.

My thanks to the author and also to Kate at Accent Press for my review copy of The Woman in the Shadows.

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Blog Tour ~ The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's penultimate stop on 

The Woman in the Shadows Blog Tour

Hello Carol, I am delighted to welcome you to Jaffareadstoo today...

Hello Jo. You ask why I have chosen to tell Elizabeth Cromwell’s story and if I found out anything surprising about Elizabeth or about Tudor women.

I have always been fascinated by stories that have not yet been told by writers of historical fiction. I am interested in female perspectives on Historical events and personalities. Historical women are shadowy. Unless a woman was very important they remain, during this period, unrecorded. Of course, when you are writing Historical Fiction about lesser known personalities, you may have no idea about how your protagonist looked or what she said or thought and a writer must use her imagination to put flesh on the historical skeleton.

I had several objectives in this novel. I found Thomas Cromwell intriguing and I wondered if looking at his marriage could permit a sideways glance at his life before he rose to power.  I hoped to show him as a family man. What was it like to be married to such a man? Moreover, writing about Elizabeth has permitted me to focus on the Tudor world as it might have been for a Tudor woman from the wealthy merchant class. It is recorded fact that Elizabeth’s father was involved in the cloth trade. It is historical fact that she had been a young widow before her marriage to Thomas Cromwell. I was curious as to why she was widowed so young. Since historians really do not know, that part of my investigation and story line permitted me, as a writer of Historical Fiction, plausible speculation.

Therefore, for me as a novelist, the first surprising discovery about Elizabeth concerns her first marriage to Tom Williams. I strongly suspected that his family, like hers, was connected with the cloth industry. However, he also was recorded as having been Yeoman of the Guard. That fact could have been a misinterpretation as it is just a mention and the word ‘yeoman’ can suggest ‘freeman’. I went with the former, exploring why he might have died and why, considering she had three children with Thomas Cromwell, she had none with her first husband. Of course, there could be alternative answers to this query.

Tudor women often inherited husband’s businesses and could live lives independent of men. Many acquired success and wealth. They employed apprentices and participated in gilds where they often faced male jealousy, and could not take on high office within the gild. I discovered enough evidence to suggest that Thomas Cromwell trusted family and close friends in the city. They were humanists who pursued new learning. Elizabeth was highly respected by his friends. I suspect that she, too, had had an education. Women had enough learning to at least manage household accounts. The Cromwells accumulated wealth and by 1523/4 had purchased a home in a choice neighbourhood beside The Austin Friary.  

Researching and writing this story involved an investigation that yielded many intriguing and fascinating discoveries. I hope your readers enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Accent Press
4 August 2017

When beautiful cloth merchant's daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of twenty-two, she is determined to make herself a success in the business she has learned from her father. But there are those who oppose a woman making her own way in the world, and soon Elizabeth realises she may have some powerful enemies - enemies who also know the truth about her late husband..

Security and happiness comes when Elizabeth is introduced to kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage is one based on mutual love and respect...but it isn't always easy being the wife of an influential, headstrong man in Henry VIII s London. The city is filled with ruthless people and strange delights and Elizabeth realises she must adjust to the life she has chosen...or risk losing everything.

Thank you to Jaffa Reads Too for hosting this hop on my Blog Tour for The Woman in the Shadows.

About the Author

Carol McGrath has an MA in Creative Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an MPhil in Creative Writing from University of London. The Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was shortlisted for the RoNAs in 2014. The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister complete this best-selling trilogy. The Woman in the Shadows, a novel that considers Henry VIII’s statesman, Thomas Cromwell, through the eyes of Elizabeth his wife, will be published on August 4th, 2017. Carol is working on a new medieval Trilogy, The Rose Trilogy, set in the High Middle Ages.  It subject matter is three linked medieval queens, sometimes considered ‘She Wolves’. She speaks at events and conferences on the subject of medieval women, writing Historical Fiction, The Bayeux Tapestry, and Fabrics, Tapestry and Embroidery as incorporated into fiction. Carol was the co-ordinator of the Historical Novels Association Conference, Oxford in September 2016 and reviews for the HNS.  

Find Carol on the following :

https://www.facebook.com/daughtersofhastings

http://scribbling-inthemargins.blogspot.gr/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Follow me on Twitter @carolmcgrath

http://pinterest.com/carol0275/

www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk

Huge thanks to the author for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and to Kate at Accent Press for my copy of The Woman in the Shadows.

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