In the court of Henry VIII, no woman is beyond the King’s notice, and no queen is beyond his wrath. In the span of just seven years, Queen Catherine of Aragon is discarded in boredom; Queen Anne Boleyn is beheaded on trumped-up charges of infidelity; Queen Jane Seymour has the good fortune to die from childbirth just as the King begins to lose interest in her; and Queen Anne of Cleves is rejected for being ugly. It’s beginning to seem that the sovereign is incorrigible in matters of the heart. But when a self-proclaimed charming bimbo with no wealth, no gift for conversation, and no head for the intricacies of politics strikes the King’s fancy, her family will do backflips to grease the works toward a fifth royal wedding, despite the King’s track record. With a pretty singing voice and a penchant for giggling, Katherine Howard unwittingly woos the most powerful man in England, and suddenly finds herself in a position both glamorous and deadly. For Katherine’s past is speckled with improprieties, and the court is full of schemers who could ruin her with a whispered secret. In The Rose Without a Thorn , Jean Plaidy, the grande dame of historical fiction, weaves a spellbinding story of how a king’s affection for a young girl turns from a fairy-tale-come-true, to a bitter chokehold that will kill her. In Katherine Howard’s fresh, unforgettable voice, The Rose Without a Thorn explores the frantic posturing and jostling for power that defines sixteenth century life in the English court and the subtle series of events that leads to Katherine’s demise. Her fall from naï veté is sudden and shocking. After a childhood of poverty and blissful ignorance in a ramshackle house full of children, her transformation to lady-in-waiting—and her subsequent initiation into the carefree joys of sex—seems effortless and entertaining. Katherine is suited for love, and moves easily from one passionate paramour to the next, with no inkling that her actions could threaten her reputation. But when a chance encounter endears her to King Henry VIII, it becomes clear that her destiny is not her own. Between the brash politicking of her ruthless uncle and the magnetism of her own gentle personality, Katherine is caught in an inescapable relationship with His Majesty that will force her to forsake the one man she truly loves. She must play a role, and play it well, or she and her entire family will face destruction. But Katherine’s past catches up with her before she learns the rules of the game, and no amount of love or loyalty will conjure the mercy she needs to stay alive. In elegant, spare prose, Jean Plaidy takes a fascinating look at one woman’s brief but dazzling Read Less