Winter King

The Dawn of Tudor England

By: Thomas Penn

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors - the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty - filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII.

Near the turn of the sixteenth century, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry Tudor clambered to the top of the heap, a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for 24 years. Although he built palaces, hosted magnificent jousts, and sent ambassadors across Europe, for many Henry VII remained a false king. But he had a crucial asset: his family - the queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Now, in what would be the crowning glory of his reign, his elder son would marry a great Spanish princess.

Thomas Penn re-creates an England that is both familiar and very strange - a country medieval yet modern, in which honor and chivalry mingle with espionage, realpolitik, high finance, and corruption. It is the story of the transformation of a young, vulnerable boy, Prince Henry, into the aggressive teenager who would become Henry VIII, and of Catherine of Aragon, his future queen, as well as of Henry VII - controlling, avaricious, paranoid, with Machiavellian charm and will to power.

Rich with incident and drama, filled with wonderfully drawn characters, Winter King is an unforgettable account of pageantry, intrigue, the thirst for glory, and the fraught, unstable birth of Tudor England.

Thomas Penn has a PhD in early Tudor history from Clare College, Cambridge. Winter King is his first book.

©2011 Thomas Penn (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“I feel I’ve been waiting to read this book a long time. It’s a fluent and compelling account of the cost of founding the Tudor dynasty.” (Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize–winning author of Wolf Hall)

“An exceptionally stylish literary debut…[Penn’s] book should be the first port of call for anyone trying to understand England’s most flagrant usurper since William the Conqueror.” (Diarmaid MacCulloch, New York Times best-selling author)

“A definitive and accessible account of the reign of Henry VII.” ( Guardian (UK))

Fantastic Book!

What did you love best about Winter King?

This book is incredibly in-depth and yet an easy listen.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first Simon Vance performance I have heard, but I would definitely listen to another.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Well Written with Too Many Names

this book was well written and too often forgotten story that needs to be told. It may not be best for audio format as the names get very tiresome and a bit confusing. if you do listen, keep a note book of names.

Fantastic overview of Henry VII

Great narration and the story moves fast. Henry VIII gets most of the attention in popular history do this is an excellent primer on how his father created the monarchy Henry VIII would inherit.

Reads like a history lecture

As a history buff, unscripted actor and a renaissance faire fan, I really looked forward to this book. As a source of information it was excellent, but a bit dry. I would love to have seen the story fictionalized per CJ Sansom or Ken Follett. For an enterprising writer, there must be about 10 novels in this narrative.

Henry VIII: Prequel!

If you could sum up Winter King in three words, what would they be?

"Henry VIII Prequel"
I treated this experience as a prequel to reading I'm heading into following this book--more (always more!) on Henry VIII. My interest has been reignited by the books Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies--both amazing.

What did you like best about this story?

I am blown away by the political and marketing savvy of Henry VII and his mother, Catherine Beaufort(?). They created the legend of the Tudors pretty much out of whole cloth. I was not aware of this degree of "sophistication" in that period.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Simon's narration is impeccable. He reads the book, for sure, but it sounds like he's telling the story from his mind and heart.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No--I was engaged enough to do so, but it's very long and covers a long period. "Digestion" between "meals" was vital!

Excellent portrayal of a man and his time

This is the first modern biography of Henry VII, and it is long overdue. Penn does an excellent job of pulling together the complicated story of Henry's reign, its improbable and contested beginning, and its tragedies and betrayals. Henry is a difficult man to sympathize with, which perhaps explains the dearth of biographers, but the strains and disappointments of his reign explain a good deal about the subsequent Tudor preoccupations with legitimacy, continental standing, and continuity. This should satisfy both serious history students and those wishing for a general introduction to Tudor England. The narrator is quite good, as well.

Excellent narration

Simon Vance does an excellent job narrating Winter King. Note to big authors: hire him for all your audio books! The only reason this book does not get 5 stars on the story is because it is very in depth about what Henry VII did to keep the nobles in check, the financial blackmail, the use of obscure laws and crippling fines. For someone who is a casual history buff, it will probably be too much. For someone who is interested in the Tudors and especially how a man with very little claim to the throne gets it and manages to keep it, it is a great book.

Informative but depressing...

Any additional comments?

I bought this book without realizing this was an "actual" history book and not a historical fiction novel. I listened; I feel like I know so much more now about Henry the VII and his time. It does not make for pleasant pastime: I was shocked by his "regime"'s brutality, deceit, systematic destruction of his subjects' lives and highway robbery of their assets. I can see why "monarchy" and "tyranny"are so close - practically synonyms. I did get quite depressed listening to it, but I would listen to more of Penn's writings if it becomes available on audio.

Fascinating.

Enjoyed it thoroughly. Henry VII is the prince Machiavelli could have been thinking about as he wrote The Prince. Recommended.

Lots of researched information

Very informative book about Henry VII reign that I was unaware of. I totally enjoyed it. It took a bit to get used to the way the reader narrated this book but overall he did well. I would recommend this book for the incite into the founding king of the Tudor line.