Guest post by The Queen’s Musician author Martha Jean Johnson
Based in Jersey City, NJ, Martha has published four books on public opinion and politics and just released her debut novel, The Queen’s Musician. She also comments on historical fiction and her own love of reading and writing in Historical Magic on Substack.
The Queen’s Musician tells a largely unknown tale about a young musician in the court of Henry VIII. Mark Smeaton rose from poverty to become one of the king’s favorite players. Two days before Anne Boleyn’s execution, he was beheaded along with four other men, all accused of adultery and treason with the queen. Most historians believe the charges against all the condemned were false. As BookLife noted: “Little is known about Mark Smeaton beyond his tragic fate. Yet Johnson imbues him with depth and dignity, transforming a historical footnote into a fully realized character whose story lingers long after the final page.”
For theater goers, Six is “the biggest new musical since Hamilton.” I just saw it on Broadway, and it’s easy to understand why. In the opening number, Henry VIII’s six wives ask us to move beyond the old adage: “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, lived,” In this rollicking production, each of the queens lights up the stage. Each one is resilient and undefeated.
If you’d like to spend more time with these fascinating women, here are seven books you might want to read.
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Henry divorced Katherine of Aragon after two decades of marriage because she hadn’t “produced” a son. Popular entertainment often portrays her as the embittered first wife, but this highly gratifying novel describes the 15-year-old Spanish princess arriving in England to marry Prince Arthur, the heir to the throne. When Arthur dies unexpectedly, she weds his younger brother, the future Henry VIII. Gregory’s narrative captures Katherine’s resolve and intelligence and foreshadows what is to come. Not much is known about the relationship between Katherine and Arthur, but this author imagines a love story. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy it.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
This first novel in Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy won the prestigious Booker Prize. In it, Henry’s exceedingly clever counselor helps oust Katherine of Aragon so the king can marry Anne Boleyn. But three years later, Anne hasn’t had a son either. Cromwell senses the shift in the wind. Mantel’s writing is propulsive, and her dialogue shimmers with acerbic wit. She promotes a revisionist view of Cromwell who is generally depicted as treacherous. Was he a civilized man trying to manage a volatile king or a consigliere pursuing his own ends?
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Some say Mantel’s second Cromwell novel is even better than her first. It garnered another Booker Prize. Here, Cromwell engineers Anne Boleyn’s fall so Henry can marry Jane Seymour. The title refers to the command given to guards to conduct condemned prisoners to the scaffold. Mantel’s storytelling bubbles with energy, although it’s fair to ask whether she gives Cromwell a pass for his horrific solution to Henry’s problem.
Katheryn Howard: The Scandalous Queen by Alison Weir
Jane Seymour gave Henry the son he wanted but died shortly afterward. Cromwell then negotiated a marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves, but the king never took to this German princess. She wisely agreed to a lucrative divorce while Cromwell lost his head. Alison Weir’s novel paints an endearing picture of Anne and a more troubling one of Henry’s fifth bride, the nineteen-year-old Katheryn Howard. The author, a historian, weaves the factual record into a saga of a heedless young woman, her accommodating lady-in-waiting, and two handsome lovers. All will be executed.
Firebrand by Elizabeth Fremantle
Henry’s sixth wife, Katherine Parr, is my favorite, and this novel, the source for the 2024 film with Jude Law and Alicia Vikander, dramatizes her alarming predicament. By this time, Henry was a 52-year-old monarch who had executed two wives. She was a 31-year-old widow in love with someone else. But you don’t say “no” to Henry VIIII. Katherine becomes queen and, among other challenges, faces false charges of heresy.
The Matthew Shardlake Mysteries by C. J. Sansom
Shardlake is a Tudor lawyer who investigates murders, and Henry’s queens appear in several of these clever, meaty mysteries. Katherine Parr is the client in Lamentation, and Shardlake is a little sweet on her. But what makes these novels so compelling is their chilling portrait of Tudor politics: everyone must maneuver to please an absolute ruler, and truth often gives way to power.
On This Day in Tudor History by Claire Ridgway
Among Tudor mavens, the old joke is: “On this day in Tudor history, something horrible happened.” Unfortunately, the jest isn’t too far from the truth. The women of Six faced a dangerous, unpredictable world, and historian Claire Ridgway summarizes the era’s tragedies and crises in this smart, readable day-by-day compilation. Ridgway is one of the most trustworthy Tudor experts I know.
