Young and Damned and Fair: The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard at the Court of Henry VIII

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2017 Born into nobility and married into the royal family, Catherine Howard was attended every waking hour – secrets were impossible to keep. In this thrilling reappraisal of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Gareth Russell’s history unfurls as if in real time to explain how the queen’s career ended with one of the great scandals of Henry’s reign. This is a grand tale of the Henrician court in its twilight, a glittering but pernicious sunset during which the king’s unstable behaviour and his courtiers’ labyrinthine deceptions proved fatal to many, not just to Catherine Howard. Russell's portrayal of the renaissance court, with its top nobles and their intricate games of power, paints a vivid picture of Catherine Howard's world. The tragic end of her career is a testament to the dangerous dance of deception that was a hallmark of Henry VIII's reign. For fans of Alison Weir (Against Our Better Judgment), Joanne Paul (Counsel and Command in Early Modern English Thought), Sylvia Barbara Soberton (The Forgotten Years of Anne Boleyn), Leah Redmond Chang (Young Queens), and Estelle Paranque (Elizabeth I of England through Valois Eyes).