Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived.

I started becoming obsessed with Henry VIII and his six wives in middle school when I read my first book about them. I also loved getting to see some of the actual places in London where these people lived during a trip there about 10 years ago. And lately, I’ve been obsessed with the musical ‘Six.’ So, I was excited to check out Elizabeth Fremantle’s novel, Firebrand, which is a fictional account of Henry’s last wife, Katherine Parr.

I don’t read a ton of historical fiction set in this time period, but it was fascinating (and the attention to detail was impressive). I loved getting to know more about Katherine’s story (especially since we all know what happened with her stepchildren in later years). Despite knowing already that Katherine survived being married to the king, there was still plenty of suspense in the plot. Plus, Katherine was a formidable main character; she was actually the first woman to have her writing published in England under her own name (which I didn’t know before reading this book).

My only criticism is that there were a few aspects that felt a bit repetitive. Some pieces of information were given several times, even though it was easy to remember these tidbits. This felt a little frustrating, but didn’t really get in the way of my overall enjoyment of the novel.

This book was originally published in 2013 under the title Queen’s Gambit but has been changed because there will be a movie coming out under this new title. I’m excited to check it out, and I’m also looking forward to reading more of Fremantle’s works (including the other two books in this series).

4.5 stars

*Free copy provided by Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review*