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The Taming of the Queen

A vivid insight into the life of Henry's final wife

Read by Bianca Amato

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About The Book

FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PHILIPPA GREGORY, COMES A DEEPLY INTIMATE PORTRAYAL OF A WOMAN WHO LONGS FOR PASSION, POWER AND EDUCATION AT THE COURT OF A MEDIEVAL KILLER.

Why would a woman marry a serial killer?
Because she cannot refuse...


Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives - King Henry VIII - commands her to marry him.

Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted sixteen months, the one before barely half a year. But Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn's trust in him grows as she unites the royal family, creates a radical study circle at the heart of the court, and rules the kingdom as Regent.

But is this enough to keep her safe? A leader of religious reform and the first woman to publish in English, Kateryn stands out as an independent woman with a mind of her own. But she cannot save the Protestants, under threat for their faith, and Henry's dangerous gaze turns on her.The traditional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy - the punishment is death by fire and the king's name is on the warrant...

Praise for Philippa Gregory:

‘Meticulously researched and deeply entertaining, this story of betrayal and divided loyalties is Gregory on top form’ Good Housekeeping

‘Gregory has popularised Tudor history perhaps more than any other living fiction writer…all of her books feature strong, complex women, doing their best to improve their lives in worlds dominated by men’ Sunday Times

‘Engrossing’ Sunday Express

‘Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told’ The Times

About The Author

No Credit

Philippa Gregory is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. Many of her works have been adapted for the screen including The Other Boleyn Girl. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds honorary degrees from Teesside University and the University of Sussex. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction. She is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She was awarded a CBE title for services to literature and charity in 2022. She welcomes visitors to her website PhilippaGregory.com.

About The Reader

Bianca Amato is a two-time Audie Award-winning narrator based in NYC. Theater Credits include The Coast of Utopia, Arcadia, Private Lives, King Lear, The Taming of The Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Pygmalion, Pride and Prejudice, Top Girls, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Broken Heart. Television includes The Big C, Unforgettable, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, and Sex and The City.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio UK (August 13, 2015)
  • Length: 400 pages
  • Runtime: 18 hours and 3 minutes
  • ISBN13: 9781471152023

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Raves and Reviews

‘Gregory creates a world in which all but the most determined women are tools in the hands of powerful men… past-paced, convincing, vivid and engrossing’

Daily Express

‘Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told’

The Times

‘The contemporary mistress of historical crime’

Kate Mosse

‘Gregory brilliantly captures the torn loyalties, treacheries and tragedies that lie beneath the historical detail, to entertaining effect’

Good Housekeeping

‘Meticulously researched…for each novel she immerses herself in dozens of primary and secondary sources, before transforming them into vivid fiction’

Sunday Telegraph

‘The Taming of the Queen reads like a clever, intimate thriller’

The Times

‘Gregory dramatises the story of a reluctant royal wife negotiating the anxious, dangerous years of her marriage… written with her usual authority and capacity for great drama’

Sunday Times

‘A cleverly wrought political novel. In introducing Parr to a new audience, Gregory has done the first lady of English letters something of a favour’

Sunday Telegraph

‘A master storyteller…Gregory captures the intrigue and suspense of life at the Tudor court in vivid detail. She skilfully combines painstaking historical research with a gripping fictional narrative and her characters are so lifelike and engaging that they practically leap from the page’

Daily Express

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