About this title: Historical novelist Philippa Gregory returns to Tudor England with this tale of the challenge-strewn life of the Spanish Infanta Catalina, who became Queen Katherine, Henry VIII's first wife. Originally married to Henry's older brother, Prince Arthur, she must honor her late husband's memory and deathbed wish by denying the truth of their passionate but short-lived love. By claiming that their union was unconsummated, Catalina makes herself eligible to marry the young Henry and eventually become queen, so that she can try to carry out the plans she and the late Arthur made for England's ...
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780743272490ISBN:0743272498
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Pages and cover bright and clean, light wear to corners. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 393 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780743272490ISBN:0743272498
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 393 p. Audience: General/trade. tiny damage to lower margin of first 30 pages read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780743272490ISBN:0743272498
Description: Good. Standard used condition. May have light reading or storage wear. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780743272490ISBN:0743272498
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Moderately pliable, a little edge wear & a little corner wear. Clean pages lightly age-toned. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 393 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 2005-12-06
ISBN-13:9780743272483ISBN:074327248X
Description: New. New Book. There is slight time wear. Otherwise looks new. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 8/28/2006
ISBN-13:9780743272490ISBN:0743272498
Description: Fine. 0743272498 May show signs of shelf wear. Choose EXPEDITED shipping, receive in 2-5 business days. Please email with questions. read more
"This is the story of Katherine of Aragon and her struggle to overcome in her rise to become a beloved Queen of England. Best known for being displaced in favor of Anne Boleyn, this is the story before Anne's reign. Of Katherine's betrothal since birth to the English prince and of her childhood with her mother Queen Isabella. A smart, loyal, and wise young woman, Katherine marries her husband's brother after his death in order to secure her place as queen and does the work of both monarchs.
"The Constant Princess" was a decently good read. It was not as engaging or page turning as "The Other Boleyn Girl," but it had its merits. I enjoyed reading about a historical figure that I had only known as a minor character in other historical novels. It was interesting to see someone whom I thought of as fairly insignificant in a spotlight role. I learned a lot about the reign of Katherine of Aragon and about her as a person. At first I will admit, I didn't like her very much. In the beginning Gregory has the character go on and on about how she thinks she is the grace of God himself and chosen to be the Queen from birth. It made me feel as if the character was deluded and fanciful.
As the plot went on however, the young Princess was no stranger to hardship and I liked her more and more. I feel that this is the mark of a very good author when he/she can make me feel so attached to the character as a person, not just a character. However, after Katherine's initial struggles to become Queen (a little more than halfway through the book), the excitement and mystery of the book was no longer as enthralling. Mostly it talked about her struggle with miscarriages, the death of her child, and her struggle to keep her younger husband away from women who try to seduce him.
I actually put the book down about 10 - 20 pages from the very end. I just kind of stopped caring and was looking to go on to something else. So overall, "The Constant Princess" was a good, if not a great, read."
"The Constant Princess tells the story of Katherine of Aragon, who was married to Prince Arthur of England and subsequently to his brother, Prince Henry (later King Henry VIII), when her marriage to Arthur was annulled after his death.
The story answers the controversy over whether her marriage to Arthur was consummated definitively from a narrative standpoint, but the book itself is not as satisfying a read as The Boleyn Inheritance for a number of reasons.
Gregory portrays Katherine's strong will and relentless ambition as much a result of a death bed promise she made to Arthur as it is a part of her own personality.
She skips years in the narrative that could have been filled out to make the story more personalized and suspenseful, a lesson she apparently learned by the time she wrote The Boleyn Inheritance which is a much longer book. I admit, too, that what she does write extensively about, Katherine's interest in war, is not something that held my interest.
Her portrayal of the Muslim influence on Spanish culture is intriguing and leaves me wanting more. She brings tantalizing pieces of eastern beauty into her story, sharply contrasted with the comparative barbarism of England of the day and makes us long, with Katherine, for home."
"This is an interesting book about Queen Katherine. I knew some about her life after her dumb second husband cheated on her, but I didn't know much about her life up to that point. Born Catalina, the Infanta of Spain, she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales. They married when they were 15 and he died less than a year later. She stayed in England to try to secure a spot as the Princess of Wales and eventually the Queen of England. She endured incredible hardships and was all but left for dead by both her parents and her father-in-law, King Henry. She managed to become betrothed to Henry's second son, who was several years younger than she, and eventually become a strong and much loved Queen. If only her husband could have been happy with just one woman! While I loved learning about the Princess Catalina, I did not like how often Gregory repeats herself. I skipped sections because I could get her point and didn't need to read about it for pages!! If you are only going to read one Gregory book, don't pick this one. It isn't her best, but it is pretty good..."
"I am completely fascinated by this time period. It is like reading a soap opera. It also helped me to understand how King Henry could be so cruel and it made me sad for Queen Katherine. This was a beautiful love story and a story of perseverance. I loved the descriptions of the spanish court. It certainly made me glad that I am not royalty."
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