Determine to read through my impressive bookshelves, I selected this 1969 tome about Henry VIII's first wife. Often portrayed at the end of her life, rather than in the middle, this book was refreshing in how it started truly at the beginning -- with Queen Isabella nearly giving birth to baby Katharine on horseback, in the rain, on the frontlines of war, and proceeds carefully and specifically through every event of the woman's life. I was afraid of two things when I picked up this book -- the first being that Katharine's life would be sentimentalized. I did not need to fear that. Mrs. Lofts was clearly a dedicated researcher and while certain elements are fictionalized it is clear that Lofts used every letter, every recorded conversation to build up a story which was exacting in accurate detail. This epitomized my second fear, that the novel would come off as some dusty old history book. It does not. The tale doesn't move, isn't a page turner, but it is a story and you do feel the emotion behind the dates and places. It doesn't take long before you really ache for Katharine, who loved a man who loved her, then lost that man forever. It is a rich book, and one which had me contemplating these lives well after I turned the last page. Norah Lofts was a prolific and well-reviewed author in her day and now that I have read one of her books, I understand why. It's not a short read but it was a perfect "big book" to sink into on these slow summer days.
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