Help locating a book!

[Beatriz]

(cross-posted from AFR in a desperate attempt to find what I'm looking for)

Last weekend I was talking with a friend about the book that preceded (and no doubt indirectly caused) my ren geekdom.

It was a book all about Catherine of Aragon. I distinctly recall the opening
of it being Queen Isabella slogging thru the mud, heavy with the child who'd be Catherine, banishing the Moors from the penisula.

If the book purported to be non-fiction it was written with a biased hand, I
think. I don't recall any footnotes although there may have been a bibliography at the end. I remember lots of conversations and such; it
definately read like a story, not a history book. Since I read it in my tween years, it's got to be at least 20 years old (youch!) However, the copy I was reading was one that was fairly new, no more than a year or two old.

On AFR several people have suggested it's a book written by Gerrett Mattingly. From what I've been able to glean about it, that tome is probably more scholarly than the book from my memory. What I recall is a story, a wonderful, magical, tragic story, not a history lesson, even one thinly disguised as a tale. Perhaps it was historical fiction?

I've tried doing a search on amazon and a few used book stores but am not having much luck since I don't know the exact title nor do I know the author. If this book rings a bell for anyone, I'd be most grateful for any info you've got. After talking about it recently, I've suddenly developed the "I-gottas" as in I gotta read that again.

thanks, y'all!

[AnnaFaerie]

I believe the book you are talking about is called THE KING'S PLEASURE by Norah Lofts.

[Kiji]

I'm not sure about the title of the one your talking about, but another good book with things about Katherine of Argon is the Alison Wier bookKing Henry and his sex wives. The first 15 or so chapters are about her, from her childhood, marriage to Prince Author, time spent after his death, her marriage to King Henry all the way up to her death.


Kiji