Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All

By: M.T. Anderson, Candace Fleming, Linda Sue Park, Deborah Hopkinson

Narrated by: Heather Wilds, Ann Marie Lee, full cast, Justine Eyre, Katharine Lee McEwan, Jayne Entwistle, Fiona Hardingham, Elizabeth Knowelden, Elliot Hill

Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

Perfect for anyone fascinated by the royal wedding, Netflix's The Crown, or Wolf Hall, this is a pitch-perfect reimagining of the romance and tragedy of Henry VIII and his six wives, told from multiple points of view by some of your favorite authors.

If you were one of King Henry VIII's six wives, who would you be? Would you be Anne Boleyn, who literally lost her head? Would you be the subject of rumor and scandal like Catherine Howard? Or would you get away and survive like Anna of Cleves?

Meet them and Henry's other queens - each bound for divorce or death - in this epic and thrilling novel that reads like fantasy but really happened. Watch spellbound as each of these women attempts to survive their unpredictable king as he grows more and more obsessed with producing a male heir. And discover how the power-hungry court fanned the flames of Henry's passions...and his most horrible impulses.

Whether you're a huge fan of all things Tudor or new to this jaw-dropping saga, you won't be able to get the unique voices of Henry and his wives - all brought to life by seven award-winning and best-selling authors - out of your head. This is an intimate look at the royals during one of the most treacherous times in history. Who will you root for, and who will you love to hate?

One of the NYPL top 10 best books of the year.

"Ambitious and exciting." (Bustle)

"A clever, feminist reimagining of one of English history's most fascinating moments." (Refinery29)

"These stories of love, lust, power and intrigue never fail to fascinate." (Shelf Awareness)

Who's who:

• M. T. Anderson - Henry VIII
• Candace Fleming - Katharine of Aragon, wife #1
• Stephanie Hemphill - Anne Boleyn, wife #2
• Lisa Ann Sandell - Jane Seymour, wife #3
• Jennifer Donnelly - Anna of Cleves, wife #4
• Linda Sue Park - Catherine Howard, wife #5
• Deborah Hopkinson - Kateryn Parr, wife #6

©2018 Candace Fleming (P)2018 Listening Library

Critic Reviews

"Seven talented YA authors and gifted narrators embrace the personalities, foibles, dreams, and philosophies of Henry VIII's unfortunate wives.... Together, these perspectives paint a personal, poignant, thoroughly engaging view of history." (AudioFile)

"Romance and intrigue dominate these accounts, as do the frustrations of being female in a time when 'no woman - not even a Queen - can...show her own power'..." (Shelf Awareness)

I loved it

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well written and wonderfully performed. It is very entertaining.

Adequate

Riddled with mispronunciations of titles and place names. Best and most interesting as well as literarily creative was the story of Anne of Cleaves. The imagery in that sequence was brilliantly constructed. Sadly, the mispronunciations of names & nations was the worst in it. Accents were very fake.

Well Worth the Read!!

If you are like me and think you have read every Tudor book there has been and can't imagine there be something new, this is your book. This is not only a fresh new look but a joy to listen to. What a creative way to tell these women's stories. I would love for these authors to go even deeper into the women they wrote about. Thank you so much.

Superb

I bought Fatal Throne on a Wednesday and had finished it by Saturday. Utterly compelling, Fatal Throne was nearly impossible to stop listening to. The speed at which you understand and sympathize with each of Henry VIII’s six wives is really quite impressive. After centuries of plays, tv series, films, and books it can be difficult to see Henry and his queens in a new light. Stubborn but pious Katherine of Aragon, clever and shrewd Anne Boleyn, kind and submissive Jane Seymour, fierce and independent Anne Of Cleves, vivacious and full of life Katherine Howard, wise and intelligent Catherine Parr all have their say here. I never expected to understand or root for Anne Boleyn. I never dreamed I could find a fair rationalization for the “crimes” of Cat Howard. Yet, in Fatal Throne each queen eloquently finds her voice and offers her opinions and views. It’s truly fascinating to me to see how each of the six either buckle under or rise above the political, religious, social, and sexual mores of the time. There’s triumph and tragedy as well as beauty and horror in each story and I simply couldn’t put it down. There’s strong feminist themes which I respected and appreciated but it’s also massively entertaining and rather illuminating. If you love history or historical women you’ll love Fatal Throne. While I think people familiar with Tudor history will get more out of it, I don’t think that it’s necessarily a prerequisite. I think anyone who loves history, appreciates a story with a strong female voice, or has a desire to see old stories in new ways will find something to love in Fatal Throne. Please give it a listen!

Absolutely Love

This was one amazing historical piece. I love the Narrating Cast. I was fully immersed. If you love Netflix's Tudor series you will get great satisfaction from this novel. I've listened to it 3 times and love it.

Fresh Presentation!

This was so uniquely presented and I loved it. Each wife told her story in first person. Henry gave his viewpoint on the rise and fall of each queen as well. Of course it could only hit the highlights (or lowlights, if you will), but even in a short story format, it managed to give a complete overview of their story.
I’ve read many many many books on the Tudors, and this one is presented differently from all the rest. Definitely worth a credit and a few hours of your time.

kept me listening

good read for Tudor fans.. narrators are good and stories are all told in a provocative way. I did not like Anne of of Cleve's in this book as much. the cadence of the narrators voice made it hard to listen to for long periods of time.. not that it was bad it just made her story seem drawn out because i would space out lol. Very entertaining read otherwise

Laughably bad

This might be a tolerable read if you know nothing about the Tudor court, but if you do, it's a painful slog of inaccuracies. All of the wives are presented as simpering idiots who are shocked, *shocked* by things that would have been entirely expected in their society- sending noble children to other households to be raised, rich men having mistresses, etc.

All of the wives are also presented as the broadest stereotypical caricature of their popular perception. Catherine of Aragon is a pious and clueless, Anne Boleyn is a conniving seductress, Jane Seymour literally describes herself as a "timid mouse" who is supposedly found unattractive because her "skin is too white." In a period where people were literally putting lead on their face to look paler! All characters are written from the perspective of someone who already knows their fate and wants them to telegraph it, and doing so actually removes much of the interest and tension from the story.

Prince Arthur is presented as sickly and impotent, and definitively not able or willing to consummate his marriage to Catherine. But he wasn't sickly! He was healthy and his death from the same contagious disease that nearly killed Catherine was a shock to everyone. He also joked about having had sex with her on their wedding night immediately after. That's what makes the story interesting! Did the incredibly religious Catherine lie about their non-consummation, or did two healthy teenagers who shared a bed for months and knew they were *supposed* to be having sex really abstain the whole time for some reason? Both scenarios seem so unlikely!

Jane Seymour is written as an open enemy of Anne Boleyn from the very start, years before Anne was even noticed by Henry. There is no basis for this. It's silly and removes some of the interesting reality of constantly shifting roles and loyalties at court.

All the characters are flat and one-note, and they pepper their accounts with lengthy "as you know" monologues delivered to other characters to provide background. It's so heavy-handed. There is no sense that these people are the highly educated elite of their society, people who had informed opinions on foreign policy, theology, art and literature. It feels like the authors were asked to write character sketches based on half-remembered history classes from twenty years ago.

There are so many worthwhile fictional versions of this story. Give this one a miss,

Shallow

The book is overly dramatic and shallow. It doesn't have any information that one could not have gleaned from a PBS special. Plus, so much time is spent on Catherine of Aragon that the coverage of the other wives resembles a high speed car chase.

An interesting twist

I know this is a little weird but some of my favorite parts were King Henry explaining his choices.

Frustrating listen

I tried to persevere with listening to this book but found myself despairing. Disappointed. If you are well read regarding the tudors I do not recommend. Not very well written. For me the authors style of writing in the first person just doesn’t work. Great idea but unfortunately not executed very well ( pardon the pun)

interesting slant

loved this. each queen in her own words. and henry puts his side after each queens story. it was good to see this from this more personal angle.

Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All

As a lover of history, I thought I knew most things about this famous group.
Delightedly this book proved me wrong.There has been details I missed and links not made until strung together side by side.

Listened to the whole thing in a day.
Loved the different take on viewpoints of each wife's life with an input of Henry's own at the end.

Worth a listen and your credit.

Too american

Typical American interpretation, full of melodrama and authors fantasy. Ok it nothing special. Some of the narration is also a bit peculiar

No no no!

Sorry this book is awful! The pleas in Spanish by the first reader are way over the top.,and accents are awful. Good idea but badly executed.

Let down by historical inaccuracies

Rapidly lost interest in this one the more I listened; found some of the voice acting really off putting too (Anna sounded more Indian than German in spots and the American robotic tones of the narrator were somewhat laughable). The worst thing of course for me as someone who was a big fan of the time period in school was the glaring inaccuracies, as mentioned in other reviews here. On the upside, this has made me want to delve back into the real history again as an adult so in that respect, I suppose this book has succeeded

Historically inaccurate

It’s quite a ‘fun’ listen but for me is let down by glaring historical inaccuracies eg Cromwell was never Lord Chancellor … these things are annoying and for me take away from some of the scenes as portrayed.

Just an audio version of Showtime's 'The Tudors'

The author was obviously a Tudors fan, which is okay, but made the story quite predictable and more like fan fic because some the dialog was nearly the same lol While engaging overall, this (audio)book is way too long and I nearly threw my ipad across the room at the Ann of Cleves chapters. The narrator's weird accent and cadence was maddening and just plain bad! I couldn't listen to her past the first 3 minutes and had to fast forward. It was annoying because she totally took me out of story. The director should have done better. Also, I am SO sick and tired of these romance writers making Henry out to be this sexy hot hunka burning love despite us knowing about his real life rotting, pus laden obese body. I'm sorry I used a credit on this, but really glad I didn't actually buy it.

Enthralling listen

This is a subject I’ve studied a lot mostly from the male perspective. It’s refreshing to learn more about the characters and the lives led by these famous women before they became queens.
Well read and engaging throughout.

amazing book!

I loved this book although I thought it would be too long at first, it is broken down into chapters and you are given the time intervals too so you can plan a cheeky half hour /hour when you can. it was well read and easy to follow and was full of insight of each character x I was sad when it ended