Amazon UK £11.99 £3.99
Amazon US $5 $14.99
Amazon CA $19,92
Biographical fiction / family saga / historical drama
Tudor 16th century
Spain
Katherine of Aragon Story #Book1
Falling Pomegranate Seeds, is the first in what promises to be a magnificent series depicting the wives of Henry VIII. This one is Katherine of Aragon’s story of her younger days and her early life before she becomes embroiled in her two marriages to the Tudor Princes (or one annulled, and one legitimate, then illegitimate marriage, depending on how you look at it.)
The story is told through the eyes and voice of Beatriz Galindo, her tutor, and Maria de Salinas her friend. With them, we enter the Courts of Castile and Aragon, where Katherine (or Catalina) is beneath the watch of her most formidable parents, particularly her mother, Queen Isabella. She is eager to learn and to be educated in her reading and writing, in religion and also to learn the ways of life, love, social upheaval and war. But there are lighter moments when we are reminded, through Ms Dunn’s superb style of writing, that Catalina is a young girl, on the cusp of womanhood. Her life is not all education and looking towards a future of the need to know how to rule, for there is a lot of girlish laughter, mischievous pranks and fun, which brings such charm to the story for it makes the characters so utterly believable – and likeable.
Ms Dunn’s novel is a joy to read, a fascinating insight into Spain in this era, the religious beliefs, the racism and expulsion of the Jews. I found it as interesting to explore the unfolding events as much as following the characters’ own journey through life.
© Anne Holt
Biographical fiction / family saga / historical drama
Tudor 16th century
Spain
Katherine of Aragon Story #Book1
Falling Pomegranate Seeds, is the first in what promises to be a magnificent series depicting the wives of Henry VIII. This one is Katherine of Aragon’s story of her younger days and her early life before she becomes embroiled in her two marriages to the Tudor Princes (or one annulled, and one legitimate, then illegitimate marriage, depending on how you look at it.)
The story is told through the eyes and voice of Beatriz Galindo, her tutor, and Maria de Salinas her friend. With them, we enter the Courts of Castile and Aragon, where Katherine (or Catalina) is beneath the watch of her most formidable parents, particularly her mother, Queen Isabella. She is eager to learn and to be educated in her reading and writing, in religion and also to learn the ways of life, love, social upheaval and war. But there are lighter moments when we are reminded, through Ms Dunn’s superb style of writing, that Catalina is a young girl, on the cusp of womanhood. Her life is not all education and looking towards a future of the need to know how to rule, for there is a lot of girlish laughter, mischievous pranks and fun, which brings such charm to the story for it makes the characters so utterly believable – and likeable.
Ms Dunn’s novel is a joy to read, a fascinating insight into Spain in this era, the religious beliefs, the racism and expulsion of the Jews. I found it as interesting to explore the unfolding events as much as following the characters’ own journey through life.
© Anne Holt
Downloaded a sample of this on my Kindle to add to my TBR list. Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Anne, for such a lovely review!
ReplyDelete