The Fifth Queen (1906-1908) is a trilogy of novels by Ford Madox Ford.
Set during the reign of Henry VIII, Ford's trilogy recreates Tudor
England in a masterful story of court intrigue, romance, and betrayal.
Focusing on the tragic figure of Katharine Howard, the fifth wife of the
King, Ford investigates the interconnection of sex and power in a
political atmosphere clouded by violence and espionage. Depicting some
of the era's most notorious figures, including Thomas Cromwell, Bloody
Mary, and the King himself, Ford makes history both entertaining and
undeniably human. Brought to the court of King Henry VIII by her cousin
Thomas Culpeper, Katharine Howard, a noblewoman whose family's fortunes
had been in decline for some time, inadvertently catches the eye of his
majesty. Given a position as a lady in waiting for Lady Mary,
Howard-though opposed by the brutally efficient schemer Thomas
Cromwell-soon distinguishes herself in the eyes of the King, who makes
her his fifth Queen. Thrust into the spotlight at the age of seventeen,
she finds herself forced into an impossible role as a public figure
whose every move could enrage her notoriously violent husband. Married
to the Henry for a brief time before she was unceremoniously divorced
and beheaded, Howard has traditionally been seen as a minor figure in
the history of Tudor England. For Ford, however, a master storyteller
with an eye for tragedy and a skill for developing flawed, convincingly
human characters, Howard is a woman whose life and death are not only
worthy of literature, but instructive for the men and women of Edwardian
England. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset
manuscript, this edition of Ford Madox Ford's The Fifth Queen Trilogy
is a classic work of British literature reimagined for modern readers.
