Juliana’s mother expects her to marry the son of one of her
father’s business men. But when Sir Thomas Seymour, brother of the late Queen
Jane, comes to town in regards to the affairs of her father’s estates and
happens to pass by a church and sees Juliana reading, he feels that she would
be perfect as a member of Katheryn Parr’s household, the lady he loves. He
sends her to Katheryn Parr’s household and she accompanies Katheryn to King
Henry VIII court. They quickly become friends and Juliana becomes a loyal
ladies maid to her. She looks to Katheryn as a sort of mother and Katheryn is
kind and loving towards her in that regard.
Meanwhile King Henry VIII falls in love with Katheryn and wants to
marry her. Despite loving Sir Thomas Seymour, she marries Henry and becomes the
sixth and final wife to Henry and is doting to his children. She loves them and
in many ways brings them closer to their father. She is a good Christian,
intelligent, delicate yet strong, elegant, kind and very giving. It is her
desire to influence Henry in matters of the realm and religious beliefs and she
gets herself in a sticky situation when she supports Anne Askew, a reformer.
This puts herself and her ladies in danger.
Juliana is also vulnerable to the court life,
less noticeable, and less protected. She fall’s victim to a man at court who
basically threatens to lie, spread harmful gossip about her and her mistress if
she told anyone about his assault on her. Juliana also keeps a secret that
could possibly bring her harm if the wrong people found out, a secret of
prophecy.
Sandra writes about Juliana’s assault, sensitively and doesn’t go
into great detail. She leaves it to the reader to imagine what happened and I’m
glad she wrote it this way. I’ve read scenes in books before were it was so
graphic; I had a hard time picking up the story and continuing on.
I
found that I liked Sandra’s portrayal of King Henry in this story. I saw a side
of him I don’t normally see in other books that I’ve read. I don’t know if it
was because by the time he married Kate, he was completely worn out or he felt
he didn’t have to worry anymore because he had an heir? Or was it because of his
health? He seemed to focus more on his beliefs and the reformation during this
time and had a softer side towards his children. He even goes off to war and
leaves Katheryn to rule in his stead while away.
I rated this story a solid five stars! I
absolutely admire Sandra’s style of writing, the story was easy to follow along
and she did not go off on long-winded details that I find tedious to read. She
gives you a wonderful view of the court life during the time of the English
Reformation. The story-line is believable, the plot engaging. All of her
characters gave support to the story and was well developed. They all played a
special part, even the ones that were in the background, which I find helps to
make the story flow better. She has done extensive research for her story and
it shows. I highly recommend this story to anyone who wants to read about
Katheryn Parr and this period of time in England’s History.
by Stephanie
Layered Pages
I have an interview with Author Sandra Byrd on October 22. Make sure to mark your calendars! You won't want to miss it!
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