A look at the possible life of Catherine Knollys (nee Carey) who was probably the daughter of Henry VIII & his mistress, Mary Boleyn. Niece of Anne Boleyn, Catherine was looked after but not favoured by Henry VIII, & was pretty much ignored by Edward VI & Mary I, but Elizabeth I would go on to welcome her into her inner circle of trusted women where she stayed until her early death around the age of 45. Balancing her duty to her monarch alongside birthing fifteen children (with thirteen living into adulthood), Catherine's line survives down to modern times in the British Royal family with Elizabeth II having been directly related via her maternal family.

This was an interesting & engrossing read. Unfortunately there is very little evidence left today of how Catherine lived, & much of the book is "probably" this & "maybe" that, with a lot of the day-to-day details extrapolated from the lives of Elizabeth's other Ladies -in-Waiting. The book does give us a lot of insight into the lives of high-born Tudor women including the birthing chamber. (The supposition that it could have been a popular herbal medicine (actually a poison) used in childbirth that was to blame for the deaths of Katherine of Aragon's short-lived other children is sad & poignant.) I think it could have been organised a little better in respect of the fact that topics seemed to skip around a bit rather than being strictly linear. Sentences in one chapter could have perhaps fitted in better in another & some seemed to be almost repeated. I did enjoy reading it though & feel as if I have learned some new information about the Tudors. 3.5 stars (rounded up)

My thanks to NetGalley & publisher, Pen & Sword History, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Thank you NetGalley, Wendy J. Dunn, and Pen & Sword for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Henry VIII's True Daughter: Catherine Carey, A Tudor Life. I received an advanced reader copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The author of this book has a clear passion for this subject matter. It is evident in the abundance of research that pours off of the pages. It is written using "I" and "you," which gives it a feel as if you are talking to a friend about her interests. This made the book feel fresh and new when compared to other non-fiction works that list details with no emotions behind them.

I do wish there was a bit more organization because some of the topics discussed were a bit repetitive, but it felt like I was reading the author's personal journal, which made this minor issue easily overlooked.

Catherine Carey came from a fascinating lineage and I wholeheartedly believe she was Henry VIII's biological daughter. This book would be great for anyone wanting to learn more about her life and about those who were involved around her. I also appreciated all of the illustrations used to assist in visualizing the people and places discussed throughout.

Illegitimate royal children have been known to make an impact on history. Take Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, and Bessie Blount, whom Henry VIII acknowledged as his son. There were discussions about Henry Fitzroy becoming the heir apparent if Henry VIII did not have a legitimate son. But what about the illegitimate children that a king did not acknowledge? What might their lives have been like? The story of Mary Boleyn and her affair with King Henry VIII has been told many times, but the story of her daughter born during that time is lesser known. In her first full-length nonfiction book, “Henry VIII’s True Daughter: Catherine Carey, A Tudor Life,” Wendy J Dunn has taken on the task of discovering the truth of Catherine Carey’s parentage and how it impacted her life.

I would like to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I just finished reading Wendy J. Dunn’s novel, “The Light in the Labyrinth” about Catherine Carey, which is the book that inspired her to research and write this biography. I wanted to see if Dunn could write nonfiction as well as she writes historical fiction novels.

Dunn begins her biography by exploring what life was like in Tudor England before diving into the main point of her book, that Catherine Carey and her brother Henry Carey, were the illegitimate children of Mary Boleyn and Henry VIII. This was a point that she made in “The Light in the Labyrinth,” but it is in this biography that Dunn is able to expand on her theories even further, including the theory that Catherine was in the Tower and on the scaffold when her aunt, Anne Boleyn, was executed as a young woman. It is a sad theory, but it might explain why she was so close to her potential half-sister, Elizabeth Tudor.

Dunn shows how Catherine Carey grew up in the shadows of Henry VIII’s court. It is there where she met and fell in love with Francis Knollys, whom she married in April of 1540. As an audience, we get to see Catherine become a mother during the last years of the reign of Henry VIII and Edward VI’s tenure as king. It was during Mary I’s reign that life became dangerous for Catherine, Francis, and their family as they were Puritans, so they fled to Germany for three years. It was not until the reign of her potential half-sister Elizabeth that Catherine returned to court to serve her queen until Catherine died in 1569.

I think Dunn does a great job of combining her knowledge of Catherine Carey with her writing style as a historical fiction novelist. It creates a unique reading experience. I think for a first try at a full-length nonfiction book, it is pretty good. If you want a full-length biography of Catherine Carey that is informative with theories that will make you question what you think you know about the Tudors, I would suggest you read “Henry VIII’s True Daughter: Catherine Carey, A Tudor Life” by Wendy J Dunn.

I have three issues with this book

1) Lack of evidence - the premise of Catherine Carey being Henry VIII's natural daughter is unsubstantiated and lacking in evidence. I was hoping that Dunn had found some sort of compelling evidence to support the claim, but there is only conjecture. Yet, Dunn states it as established fact and uses it to draw multiple other conclusions, which really didn't sit right with me.

2) Narration - Dunn inserts herself in the narrative... a lot. There are a lot of "I" statements, which didn't really thrill me. Once or twice is okay, I guess. But it was repeated. Furthermore, Dunn includes paragraphs from her fiction books, which also did not work for me. I don't dislike fictional paragraphs for setting the stage, but I did not like snippets of a separate book thrown at me.

3) Original research - it seemed to me that Dunn hadn't done a whole lot of original research. She liberally quotes Weir often, making this book, at times, seem more like a review of Weir than an original book.

The one thing I did like was getting to know Catherine Carey.

I always knew that Mary Boleyn had children that could have been the result of her relationship with Henry VIII. However, I like I'm sure countless others have never given a second thought to those children. We were only interested in those born in wedlock..

Catherine 'Katryn' Carey was Mary's daughter her father rumoured to be the king. Hers' is not a name that goes down in history. The author Wendy Dunn has done a wonderful job with her research. She brought the person to life. We are able to see more of what life was like at court for the second Queens niece.

I finished the book feeling I had learnt something rather than reading a retelling of an old story.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to see an ARC

While I enjoy the subject matter, I did not care for this book. It has no organization at all and is all over the place. Alot of it is conjecture and supports her fictional books.

Every time I picked up "Henry VIII's True Daughter", I was whisked back in time, and learned something about Catherine Carey, and the life and times in which she was born into and lived.

Wendy J Dunn's writing is descriptive, detailed, and very well-researched. I felt so immersed in the history being told, and could envision the era before my eyes. Ms. Dunn shows how she believes that Catherine Carey was the daughter of Mary Boleyn and King Henry VIII, and I found her argument fascinating.

So many historical figures are mentioned throughout this non-fiction read, and how Catherine impacted the world around her, as well as was impacted by the time period she lived in is explored. She was a key person throughout many important moments in history, and I was enthralled by her story. I can't wait to do more research on my own time as well!

If you enjoy biographies and / or learning about The Tudor Era and / or Elizabethan Era, I highly recommend this non-fiction read!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pen & Sword History for the ARC of this biography! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Henry V111 True Daughter by Wendy J Dunn

A fascinating insight and well researched book on a child of Henry Tudor who is relatively unknown. If the child had been male it could very much a different matter and who knows how that could have changed the future.

This book presents an important story of a woman who saw and experienced much tragedy and political turmoil during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I – all of which prepared her to take on the vital role of one of Elizabeth I closest and most trusted women. It also prepared her to become the wife of one of Elizabeth's privy councillors – a man also trusted and relied on by the queen. Catherine served Elizabeth during the uncertain and challenging first years of her reign, a time when there was a question mark over whether she would succeed as queen regnant after the failures of England's first crowned regnant, her sister Mary.

I truly enjoyed the book and going out to be extremely well researched. I wish we knew more of Catherine Carey. The book is filled with mostly well known facts of members of the Tudor Court but presented in a wonderful way. I suggest this book to new historians of the Tudor.

A likely daughter of Henry VIII and Mary Boleyn, niece of Anne Boleyn and the favourite of Elizabeth I, Catherine’s life was both privileged and fraught with political difficulties. Dunn uses the scant details of Catherine’s life to complete a personal exploration not only of Catherine’s lived experience but also of the women who surrounded her and the lives of Tudor women in general. Dunn’s examination is personal rather than academic. It offers insight to the way in which history and fiction blend in a writer’s mind – I would perhaps use it as a creative writing tutor to help novice writers with an interest in historical fiction to develop their ideas. The writer’s enthusiasm for her subject is evident throughout.

This was absolutely fascinating!

With obvious passion, author Wendy J. Dunn makes a strong case for the possibility that Catherine Carey was Henry VIII’s daughter.

Catherine is Anne Boleyn’s niece, the eldest daughter of Mary Boleyn (Henry VIII’s mistress) born during her first marriage to William Carey. This supposition would also hold that Catherine was Elizabeth I’s half-sister, bringing her into the spotlight as a Tudor woman who definitely contributed to the success of her half-sister’s reign. So little is known about Catherine, but Dunn’s conjecture is worthy of belief.

The royal watcher within was hooked by the statement that Queen Elizabeth II “bore the blood not of the first Elizabeth, but of Mary Boleyn, via her daughter, Catherine". I immediately went to do a surface-level search online and came across the fact that both of Princess Diana’s sons, William and Harry, are descended from Mary Boleyn not only through Prince Charles (Elizabeth II), but also through their mother’s Spencer family ancestry!

I was captivated by this fascinating research that drew Catherine Carey from the shadows and allowed her to shine as an important Tudor-era figure and as a daughter of Henry VIII.

I was so intrigued by the author’s research that I’ve searched out her backlist (historical fiction) and will definitely make it a priority to read this winter.

I was generously granted a wish through Pen & Sword Publishers and was given this copy by NetGalley with no obligation to provide a review.

1.5 / 5.0 DNF at 20%

This is a lot of supposition and self-promotion.

The author continually breaks the narrative to address her reader in a bid to emotionally side on the plight of women living in Tudor England, specifically Mary and Anne Boleyn. She constantly inserts tangents to her own historical fiction works (even in the little bit of this I was able to muddle through) or that some coincidence of date and location would make an intriguing story for a different historical fiction she might have planned. By the point I stopped reading, she was saying that the way portraits were painted show the clear relationship between Catherine Carey and Henry VIII, without examining any of the reasons why that might be so (namely, that was the trend at the time) Wikipedia is also cited several times, and I don’t consider that a reliable source.

I had hoped this would be along the vein of “A Woman of Influence” by Wilkie, it is more just the notes of a fiction writer organized into a book format so she can easily plot her next historical romance or just advertise the other novels she’s already written.

Until Next Time,
MC

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC for my honest review.*