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KATHERINE THE QUEEN

Name: KATHERINE THE QUEEN
Author: Linda Porter
ISBN: 978-312-38438-8

THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF KATHERINE PARR, THE LAST WIFE OF HENRY VIII

by Linda Porter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2010

A rich narrative, but generous to a fault.

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A sympathetic, even laudatory biography of the sixth wife of Henry VIII.

Porter (The First Queen of England: The Myth of “Bloody Mary”, 2008) offers a favorable treatment of Katherine Parr (1512–1548), crediting her even with the glories of the Elizabethan Age. According to the author, she was attractive, clever and religious, and was a wonderful surrogate mother for Mary Tudor and a loving spouse four times (thrice widowed). Porter follows the scant material available on her subject and provides some fresh interpretations of her nature and behavior, writing that Katherine grew to love Henry, despite his profound physical odiousness, irascibility and roving eye. The author begins at a moment of discomfort for Katherine in 1547—the day of Henry’s death, when the court was keeping the news from her and from the rest of the country. She was uncertain of her standing with the king and, perhaps, worried for her life. Then the narrative retreats for Parr family history. Katherine was born into her influential family sometime in 1512, but precious little is known of her girlhood. In her midteens, she married her first husband, who died a few years later. Her second husband, Baron Latimer, who was twice her age, got caught up in the Pilgrimage of Grace but escaped the fatal fate of some of his more zealous companions. After his death, Henry VIII, having beheaded Katherine Howard, married Parr and seemed happy. Porter believes that Parr annoyed him only when she found, through her publishing, some fame for herself.

A rich narrative, but generous to a fault.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-312-38438-8

Page Count: 464

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
TUDORS VERSUS STEWARTS
by Linda Porter

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FIRST QUEEN OF ENGLAND
by Linda Porter

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.