Home Archive by category "Book news" (Page 14)

Category: Book news

Round up of news

Sorry I have been a little quiet on this blog over the last week or so! I’m just going to do a quick round up of a few things that I wanted to post about this week but got behind on.

From the London Evening Standard, an article about one of the winners at the Chelsea Flower show, which grew plants used in a recipe to create perfume for Elizabeth I.

Here’s another article about Henry VIII’s annulment request document that I blogged about previously.

Sent to me through Twitter – News on Alison Weir’s upcoming book launch at the Tower of London for her new bio on Anne Boleyn and details for a tour of Tudor England she’ll be leading in 2010, as well as news on other upcoming books (including a sequel to “The Lady Elizabeth”).

And finally, from Pop Tudors (the blog for the Showtime series “The Tudors”) – Ask a Tudor!. Your chance to ask Mark Hildreth, the actor playing Cardinal Reginald Pole, a question. You can submit them in the comments on the page linked to above.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

I’ve been seeing a few interesting reviews about “Wolf Hall”, a novel about Thomas Cromwell, coming through on my Google news alerts and I also received a recommendation from Foose, so I thought it was time to look into this book some more! Here’s the product description from Amazon, as well as an order link for Amazon UK (where the book is already out) and a pre-order link for the US Amazon, where it will be out in October. I’m personally hoping it is eventually at Audible, since that’s how I “read” a lot of books these days!

In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII

Yay!

(Picture taken with my laptop’s built-in webcam in my office at work)

I haven’t had a chance to do a thorough flip-through yet, but I can’t wait to dig in!

Book to accompany British Library exhibition

The book for Henry VIII: Man and Monarch at the British Library will be released next week in the UK.

Here are the Amazon.co.uk order links (paperback and hardcover):

And the US order link (I think they will just be sending it from the UK, since it doesn’t look like there is specifically a US edition at this time):

House of Treason: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty

From The Daily Mail:

Power, treason and the best legs in court

HOUSE OF TREASON BY ROBERT HUTCHINSON

What is treason? In Tudor times, as in Stalin’s, it is the charge by which anyone whom a tyrant fears as a rival can be permanently removed – by execution.

The Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, were not only rich and powerful, they were extremely vain. They called themselves ‘right high and mighty princes’. They built themselves palaces with tennis courts – the indoor sort.

And out of the four successive fathers and sons considered here, two were beheaded and two came within an ace of having their arrogant heads severed.

There were no more regular guests in the Tower of London than the high and mighty Howards.

Add to this that two of Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, beheaded for cuckolding him, were Howards – well, Anne’s mother was – and you have a full house of losers in the lethal game of musical chairs that was the Tudor court.

You might say they had it coming. But you might also say they were victims of Tudor paranoia – the Howards were powers behind the throne, so no wonder Henry and Elizabeth felt insecure.

Full article

Amazon links (of course… I always feel like I’m bashing you guys over the head with these things!)

More “discovered” Shakespeare

This time it is some written works –

From The Telegraph:

Academic ‘discovers’ six works by William Shakespeare

An academic claims to have discovered six previously unrecognised works by William Shakespeare.

Dr John Casson claims to have unearthed Shakespeare’s first published poem, the Phaeton sonnet, his first comedy, Mucedorus, and his first tragedies, Locrine and Arden of Faversham.

He also explores the plays Thomas of Woodstock and A Yorkshire Tragedy, and claims to prove that a ‘lost play’ called Cardenio is a genuine work by Shakespeare and fellow playwright John Fletcher.

Dr Casson spent three years studying writings thought to be connected to Shakespeare and poring over the life and letters of aristocrat Sir Henry Neville, considered by some academics to be the latest candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays.

He has published his findings in a book, titled Enter Pursued by a Bear.

“Some people have said, ‘we don’t know if this is by William Shakespeare’, so I’ve been able to study them and say ‘yes, here’s the evidence for Shakespeare but here’s also the evidence for Neville,’ so I’ve been able to link the two,” Dr Casson said.

“I started off looking at works where we weren’t sure whether they were by Shakespeare or not and I tested them to see if there was any evidence for Henry Neville.

“I’ve found evidence pouring out and I’ve been able to show Shakespeare’s development from his early days.”
…
Dr Casson, an independent researcher and psychotherapist, said: “The folio on display contains what many think are the complete works of Shakespeare, but I have discovered six new plays that are all by the Bard, but which never made it into this 400-year-old collection.”

He added: “What we thought were the first plays by Shakespeare appeared anonymously in the early 1590s.

Full article

And for anyone interested in getting the book, here are the Amazon links from my affiliate store:

Elizabeth I’s translation works published

These two volumes continue the work started with the excellent Elizabeth I: Collected Works edited by Leah Marcus, et. al. and Elizabeth I: Autograph Compositions and Foreign Language Originals, edited by Janel Muler et. al.

The first volume is already out and covers 1544-1589 and the second volume is to be published soon and covers 1592-1598. I’m hoping that these will someday come out in paperback like the Collected Works eventually did, since they tend to be cheaper and not take up as much room (both of which are big issues for me!).

And of course, Amazon affiliate store links below (just for the new translation volumes… if you want to support the site and buy the other ones, you can click through the links on the right.)

New Book – Mistresses of Henry VIII by Kelly Hart

I received an email from The History Press about this upcoming book, which sounds interesting. And it will save me the trouble of trying to assemble that “mistresses timeline” I mentioned in a thread on the Q&A blog! It is due out on April 6 in the UK and June 1 in the US (according to Amazon). Text from the information sheet is copied below.

The Mistresses of Henry VIII by Kelly Hart

April 2009 is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII

Next live blog/read-along book!

Going on the past successes of the Henry: Virtuous Prince and The Sisters Who Would Be Queen threads, here’s the next one!

When I posted about Derek Wilson’s new book A Brief History of Henry VIII, PhD Historian generously offered to do a “blog as you read” for this one. Since this book is inexpensive, this would be a good one to also do as a read-along for anyone who is interested. It is currently listed as “dispatched in 1 to 3 weeks” by Amazon UK and is “In Stock” at Amazon US (although the release date is technically March 9). And full disclosure, if you order through the links on the post above, it goes to my affiliate store and I get a small portion of the sale, which goes towards paying for web hosting and research books.

Derek Wilson’s new book on Henry VIII

From This Is North Devon:

IF YOU say Henry VIII to most people, the iconic image that is likely to spring to mind, will be the magnificent full-length portrait, painted by his contemporary Hans Holbein. In it, Henry looks impressive and imposing: jewels on his chest, codpiece thrusting forward, arms akimbo and his eyes glaring out of the canvas.

However, according to one leading Tudor historian, like many people across the ages, we have been bamboozled by this stunning image. Indeed, Derek Wilson from West Buckland goes so far as to say the portrait is probably the most effective piece of propaganda in the whole of English history.

“This is Henry as he wanted to be seen,” says the author.

“The reality was rather different. When that portrait was painted that apparently magnificent man was fat, balding and a semi invalid. He had just fairly narrowly survived a major rebellion in the country. He had been 28 years on the throne and he had no male heir. His own illegitimate son, his fall back heir, had just died. He was on his third wife and he was actually staring failure in the face.”

Henry, he contends, strikes that famous domineering pose to suggest he was a splendid and powerful king.

“This is not the case,” says Derek. “We have been deceived.”

In latest book on the Tudors, A Brief History of Henry VIII, Derek, puts forward the view that Henry VIII was a man who lived in the shadow of his own father. He was haunted by the achievements of Henry VII, a fine king who had established peace in the country after the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII won his crown in battle, saw off rebellions and was a man of considerable stature.

Full article

Amazon pre-order links (both due out soon):

“The King’s Rose” – YA novel on Kathryn Howard

Alisa M. Libby has a second book coming out in a few months in the US and UK that is a Young Adult novel about Kathryn Howard (pre-order links below). She’s an interesting choice of subject for a book aimed at that age group. I’ve bought a few young adult Tudor novels over the years but I’m ashamed to say I haven’t had a chance to read any of them yet, even though I know that they have been driving teen readers to my website after they get hooked on the period. I’ll have to add this one to my ‘to be read pile’ and finally read some of them one of these days!

Sisters Who Would Be Queen thread at Tudor Q&A

Leanda de Lisle’s new work The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine and Lady Jane Grey will be coming out January 19, 2009 in the UK and is expected in September 2009 in the US. PhD Historian has offered to blog his reading of the book over on the Q&A blog. He and I both received advance copies, but I’m already in the middle of reading a couple of other books so I don’t think I’ll be getting to this one for a while!

Here’s the Amazon UK pre-order link. I don’t have one for the US release yet, but I’ll post it when it comes along.

Big sale of ebooks and CD-ROMS at TannerRitchie

Thanks to kb for alerting me to this sale from TannerRitchie Publishing! If you aren’t familiar with them, they publish hundreds of rare and out of print historical sources as ebooks and specialize in British History, especially Tudor and Stuart England, British Colonial history (especially in North America and the Carribean), Medieval history and Scottish medieval and early modern history.

TANNERRITCHIE’S AMAZING YEAR END SALE!!

* ALL DOWNLOADS $10 (CAD)
* 50% off all CD-ROMs

Beat the credit crunch blues with TannerRitchie Publishing! All eBook downloads are an incredible $10 each, and all CD-ROMs are half price. Build up your personal library or treat yourself to an entire series of eBooks. Don’t miss out on this limited time offer. Buy now – this sale will end on 1 January 2009!

Open Thread – Questions for author Sandra Worth

Okay folks, here’s your chance to ask Sandra Worth some questions! I’ll collect questions in the comments through the end of the day Wednesday, December 3rd, and then Sandra will reply in a guest post on the blog (instead of in the comments). If you’ve already thrown out a question in the previous posts about her new book, please submit them again here too so I can collect them all in one place.

Previous related posts:
http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/11/11/the-kings-daughter-by-sandra-worth/

http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/11/23/more-on-the-kings-daughter-by-sandra-worth/

[Dec. 4 – Comments are now closed. Stay tuned for Sandra’s answers!]

More on “The King’s Daughter” by Sandra Worth

Consider this is a teaser for our upcoming open thread with the author, which will probably be during the US Thanksgiving break (Nov. 27-30). Start thinking of questions!

From Sandra Worth:

My Dear Readers,

I’m back with a new book due out December 2nd– just in time for Christmas! THE KING’S DAUGHTER: A NOVEL OF THE FIRST TUDOR QUEEN is about Elizabeth of York who you may remember closed out the epilogue in the last book of The Rose of York trilogy. You may think there’s not much more to learn about her than what you already know. You may think there’s not much more to learn about her than what you already know, but new details and research have shed light on this forgotten queen. Her story is amazing — and shocking!

What intrigued me most about Elizabeth before I began my research was how much mystery clings to her– how little is really known about her How could this be? Sister to the Princes in the Tower and mother of Henry VIII, the first Tudor queen lived at the epicenter of momentous events. So why does she hover barely visible on the fringes of history?

In fact, so little was known about her that her biographer had to resort to novelistic techniques in order to fill in the gaps of her life–the first time this was ever done! So I went researching, and slowly I found the clues I needed to explain the questions that troubled me.

Some of the questions were addressed in Richard’s story, The Rose of York, but others are downright curious. For example, why has so little survived of Elizabeth when so much is known about her husband, Henry VII, her son Henry VIII, and even her mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort? Did the Tudors keep her captive, and why should she be a threat to them? Did she believe the Pretender, Perkin Warbeck, was really her lost brother, Richard, Duke of York–and was Henry VII in love with the Pretender’s wife?

I’ve included some reviews for you below. I hope you will read THE KING’S DAUGHTER and remember that it makes a great Christmas gift for family and friends who enjoy historical fiction. Write me when you’ve read it! You know how much I love hearing from you. Meanwhile, if you’re in the Houston area, I hope you can stop by one of my two booksignings so I can sign it for you. The information is below. I hope to see you there.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings, and a very, very Happy New Year!

Sandra Worth

Reviews:
From the publisher: “In this groundbreaking novel, award-winning author Sandra Worth vibrantly brings to life the people

Doomed Queens by Kris Waldherr

This looks like fun (well, as fun as reading about women who you know met bad ends can be):

DOOMED QUEENS is a darkly humorous look at the dangers of being female and royal. Over the course of fifty illustrated and too-brief lives, it charts centuries of regal backstabbing and intrigue. Robin Maxwell, bestselling author of Mademoiselle Boleyn, described my book as “A smart, sassy overview of the