The Shadow of the Pomegranate

By: Jean Plaidy

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

The marriage of Katharine of Aragon and King Henry VIII was a right royal match. England loved the young lovers, but hardly were they wed when powerful people in Henry's court were spinning webs of intrigue around the innocent royal pair. Spanish spies, the Pope's men, the Queen's seductive ladies-in-waiting, and especially the King's brilliant advisor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, all were obsessed with one question: Would Queen Katharine be able to give Henry the healthy son he so desperately wanted?

Everything depended on the answer, especially the destiny of Queen Katharine herself.

In this second novel of the series, Jean Plaidy has brilliantly written the bittersweet true story of young King Henry and his dear Kate, who wanted only to please her beloved husband but seemed thwarted at every turn.

©1990 Eleanor Hibbert (P)2008 Blackstone Audio

It looms over her

This is the second book in the trilogy about Katherine of Aragon, written by Jean Plaidy. This book tells the lesser known part of her life, the part before Anne Boleyn enters. The book starts out full of hope, as Katherine quickly becomes pregnant and has children, but it then devolves into fear and internal chaos. Katherine looks to be secure and comfortable in her role, but is fearing the worst, that none of her children, but one lives, and that a girl. But despite all of that she does manage to give England a great victory over Scotland, something Henry does resent. You do begin to feel the fear Katherine does at her continual miscarriages and still births. You begin to worry for her as Henry looks elswhere for comfort and women. Jean Plaidy is a masterful novelist and does an excellent job showing you the inner workings of a young Henry VIII's court.

The narrator does the book justice, but like in her last one, her Spanish and other accents leave a lot to be desired. I know they're not always easy to do, but I think the narrator could have tried a little harder, or maybe they could have found someone who was capable of doing the accents along with the English ones.

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Heart breaks for Catherine.

What did you love best about The Shadow of the Pomegranate?

This is not a happy story and I kept wondering how things would have been different had she given birth to a living son. Catherine of Aragon is my favorite of Henry's wives so I enjoyed this book. Not spectacular, but good.

What about Anne Flosnik’s performance did you like?

Anne did a very good job.

If you could take any character from The Shadow of the Pomegranate out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Catherine without a doubt.

from queen catherine's point of view

while henry viii's second wife, ann, and mother of elizabeth i seems to get written about more, this is a story about queen catherine, first wife and mother of henry's first surviving child, queen mary.

this catherine loves her husband very much. she wants to give her a husband the son he so desperately wants. she seems to get pregnant easily but all but 2 are stillborn. she finally delivers a son, but he dies shortly after. mary is the only child who lives.

the book is through her eyes. while she was raised by queen isabell of spain to be a good queen, henry was not raised to be a king. she is not only older in age but in maturity. she is a most adept negotiator, while the king is not. she is calmer and more sedate than the king who is in constant motion. he really appears to be a spoiled, uncontrolable brat.

Good version of Catherine

I liked this version of Cetherine which was neither too romantic, nor too harsh - a realistic vision of what an older woman married to and dependent on a spoiled selfish boy might have to endure....