Ann Boleyn’s cousin Kathryn Howard becomes the Queen of England, but can she keep her head?
Rating: 3 Stars
“I got the idea while having an email argument with my editor about whether Kathryn Howard was just a dumb slut or not,” says No Will But His author Sarah Hoyt. “We’d been talking about Tudor women and she compared Kathryn unfavorably to Anne Boleyn, which is not fair. Kathryn was much younger and had fewer advantages. I pointed out that every other wife of Henry VIII, except possibly Anne of Cleves, was very smart, though each in a different way.”
“Men tend to go for the same type of woman over and over,” says Hoyt. “So why would he go head over heels for a dumb bunny? Besides the historical record doesn’t say anything that leads us to believe she was dumb. Four years later, the editor called and asked me if I wanted to do a proposal for the novel.”
No Will But His is the story of Kathryn Howard. Raised by her grandmother and second cousin to the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, Howard just wants to be loved. As a young girl she is indiscreet with two men, but her grandmother thinks Kathryn can still marry well and gets her a post in the royal household as a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleves, which brings her under the wandering eye of the King.
Howard’s main aim is to act innocent and young and keep Henry happy and to avoid ending up like Anne Boleyn. But given the aging King’s impotence and volcanic temper, is this too much to ask?
“Getting the call asking me if I wanted to write this story was pretty funny,” says Hoyt. “The second funniest thing was that the character took on a life of her own and kept insisting there was really no reason to die at the end of the book. We could make it alternate history. She could escape with (her cousin and alleged boyfriend) Thomas Culpeper to be a pirate.”
“I read everything, fiction and non-fiction about Kathryn Howard, Henry VIII and the Tudor era,” says Hoyt. “Since I’d written Plain Jane before [under the house name Laurien Gardner], some of it was familiar. Some of it was brand new and fascinating.”
No Will But His is a nice change from all the other books set in Tudor times about Anne Bolen and Elizabeth. Both are great subjects, but have been overwritten. Hoyt has very good character development. The descriptions are wonderful. The year of Howard’s marriage is rushed in the novel. You’ll want to know more about that year.
Sarah Hoyt was born in Granja, Portugal. She currently lives in Colorado and is working on a space opera.
No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard by Sarah Hoyt. Trade Paperback, 352 pages, Publisher: Berkley Trade; Original edition (April 6, 2010). Language: English ISBN: 9780425232514, $15.00
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