"The Marquess House Trilogy #1"
by Alexandra Walsh
4*
England 1539
When Catherine Howard arrives at the court of Henry VIII it is to be maid of honour to the new Queen, Anne of Cleves yet she had no idea where this path would take her.
When Catherine becomes the King's new fancy she finds herself caught in the politicking of her Uncle, the Duke of Norfolk and his ambition to put a Howard heir on the throne.
Terrified by the health of the King affecting his behaviour, the fate of her cousin's Anne and George are forever on her mind and stoke fears for her own safety.
Wales 2018
Dr Perdita Rivers is the estranged grand daughter of Mary Fitzroy a famed Tudor historian. After Mary's inexplicable loss of contact with both herself and her twin sibling, Piper. Mary's unexpected death and the girls sudden inheritence of Marquess House a beautiful tudor estate on the Pembrokeshire coast, Perdita begins to learn and unravel the reasons for her grandmother's absence as she settles into her new stately home.
While looking further into her grandmothers work Perdita finds ancient documents in the archives of letters and diaries claiming that Catherine Howards execution wasn't as it seemed.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for the opportunity to read this debut novel by Alexandra Walsh, this is the first instalment of a trilogy. This novel is a dual time line plot based on a historical conspiracy thriller with a twist on a well known period of Tudor history.
The beginning of this book was a slow burner for me, it took a while for me to like the character of Perdita as she initially came over very one dimensional and upon her realisation of her inheritance at times acted like a spoilt child whose newly found priveledge initially put me on the back foot. However, I have to be honest as an avid reader on books based in the tudor perior it was in fact the intrigue of Catherine's story which drew me deeper into reading this book.
One tudor character I developed a fondness for was Jane Boleyn (Viscountess Rochford nee Parker). Jane was the wife of the ill fated brother of Anne Boleyn, George but was well used to the politics of court commencing her time there with Catherine of Aragon's household.
Jane is clearly a strong women able to survive throughout the early days of Henry's court, her tenacity is clearly portrayed in this book when she is returned to the court of Jane Seymour and subsequently the next Queen, Anne of Cleves before standing beside Catherine Howard.
Jane is clearly a strong women able to survive throughout the early days of Henry's court, her tenacity is clearly portrayed in this book when she is returned to the court of Jane Seymour and subsequently the next Queen, Anne of Cleves before standing beside Catherine Howard.
This book is written in such a way that at times you do feel back in that fateful period in history. Although the plot is based in fact it is a work of fiction and I sometimes had to remind myself of that as I was pulled into the intrigue.
I do feel this book had a similar style of writing in the historical timeline to that of Alison Weir and Phillipa Gregory. The more modern timeline had a feel of Dan Brown to it however, I would say at times the plot felt too slow and it's conclusion almost felt rushed in it's style of writing.
Despite all my views I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and felt drawn back to it's pages time and again. I look forward to seeing where the story will go in the second book when it is published.
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