This book purports to reexamine the life of Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth Queen and provide more insight into her rise and fall within the context of the wider world. However, the first thing that needs to be said is that the contents is nearly all 'context'. For the vast majority of the narrative, the information being imparted is not about Catherine at all - it's more about the Court, the history to that point, the movers and shakers and basically anything but the woman in question. Her name doesn't even appear in the first few pages at least!

Now, don't get me wrong, I find this period endlessly fascinating and it is incredibly interesting to me to see how this one person fits within the wider arc. However, when you're expecting to have the title 'character' front and centre, it's extremely disappointing to find that, actually, only a very small percentage of the book is actually focused on her. More often than not, it feels like the author is pulled off on tangent after tangent, with the occasional realisation that 'oh, and this is where Catherine was while this was going on' or 'this affected Catherine in this way'. 

Even when we reach the point of her arrest and that of her purported lovers, and the book does start to focus on her story specifically, I found there to be very little depth or examination of the charges, the events or the outcome. It came across to me more as a simple narrative timeline. It sounds an odd thing to say, but in the main it came across as perhaps a little too objective for my taste. I prefer a historian who gives their opinion and at least tries to identify means, motive and opportunity, even if I disagree with their assessment. It just brings the history to life. Sadly, this book didn't do anything like that for me.

That's not to say it's totally opinionless. The author does pin his colours to the mast and argue that Catherine and Culpepper were not having a fully-fledged affair, but merely intended to as and when the opportunity arose. This does seem to be being proposed more and more in recent years, and he does set out some good evidence as to why he believes this is the case, which does make me reassess what I've seen and read before. No, it's not as good a story, but it does make her ending that bit more tragic.

I think if the book had been pitched as an examination of the Howard family during this period, it may have come closer to the mark in describing the contents. But as is, the book just isn't as advertised.