New and Upcoming Non-Fiction

While browsing Amazon today (I spend way too much time there!) I came across several non-fiction recent and upcoming releases. My TBR pile just keeps getting higher and higher...

Release Date: February 2009 - US; October 2008 - UK. Doomed queen of Henry VIII, mother to Elizabeth I, the epic story of Anne Boleyn from an exceptional new writer. Anne Boleyn was the most controversial and scandalous woman ever to sit on the throne of England. From her early days at the imposing Hever Castle in Kent, to the glittering courts of Paris and London, Anne caused a stir wherever she went. Alluring but not beautiful, Anne's wit and poise won her numerous admirers at the English court, and caught the roving eye of King Henry.
Anne was determined to shape her own destiny, first through a secret engagement to Henry Percy, the heir of the Earl of Northumberland, and later through her insistence on marriage with the king, after a long and tempestuous relationship as his mistress. Their love affair was as extreme as it was deadly, from Henry's 'mine own sweetheart' to 'cursed and poisoning whore' her fall from grace was total.

Release Date: January 2009 - UK; March 2009 - US. From convenient accessory to sovereign lady, this book assesses the critical, colourful and, at times, dramatic role of the Tudor queens of England.From Elizabeth of York - wife of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch - through to Elizabeth I - her grand-daughter and the last in the line - this book explores some of the most colourful and dramatic women in British history. Queen consorts were central to the Royal Court but their role has rarely been examined or contrasted with the better known ruling queens. How did they behave (in and out of the bedchamber)? How powerful were they as patrons of learning and the arts? What religious views did they espouse and why? How successful and influential were they?

Release Date: January 2009 - US and UK. When Edward IV died in 1483, the Yorkist succession was called into question by doubts about the legitimacy of his son, Edward (one of the 'Princes in the Tower'). The crown therefore passed to Edward IV's undoubtedly legitimate younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. But Richard, too, found himself entangled in the web of uncertainty, since those who believed in the legitimacy of Edward IV's children viewed Richard III's own accession as a usurpation. From the day when Edward IV married Eleanor, or pretended to do so, or allowed it to be whispered that he might have done so, the House of York, previously so secure in its bloodline, confronted a contentious and uncertain future. John Ashdown-Hill argues that Eleanor Talbot was married to Edward IV and that therefore the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was bigamous, making her children illegitimate. He thereby offers a solution to one of history's great mysteries.

Release Date: February 1, 2009 - UK; April 15, 2009 - US. In this first biography of a significant female figure in the male-dominated world of British Tudor politics, Hazel Pierce reconsiders the life and martyrdom of Catholic duchess Margaret Pole against the changing social and political landscape of her times. Pole, niece of both Edward IV and Richard III, was the only woman apart from Anne Boleyn to hold a peerage in her own right during the sixteenth century, and this important contribution to medieval scholarship provides a matchless understanding of aristocratic women during that time period, as well as new interpretations of Henry VIII and his relationship with the nobility.

Release Date: March 2009 in US and UK. A biography of Henry VIII of England's fifth wife, beheaded for playing Henry at his own game - adultery. At seven o'clock on the morning of 13th February 1542, Catherine Howard stepped out into the cold of the great courtyard of the Tower of London. Slowly she was escorted across the yard and carefully helped up the steps of the wooden scaffold. Only a small group of sightseers had gathered to watch the death of a queen; there was no weeping, no remorse, only chilly curiosity. The ax rose and fell, a life ceased, an episode came to an end. The life and death of Catherine was truly a Tudor tragedy.
A mere teenager, the vivacious and flirty Catherine Howard was an unsuitable bride for the elderly and fat Henry VIII. Like most of Henry's wives she had come to his attention at court whilst lady-in-waiting to his fourth wife of only a few months, Anne of Cleves. Henry was soon besotted and came to adore Catherine, his 'very jewel of womanhood'. His head already turned by the 19 year old, Henry never consummated his marriage to Anne, he divorced her and married for the fifth time on 28th July 1540.
Lacey Baldwin Smith, one of the finest historians of the Tudor age, narrates the rise and fall of the most tragic of Henry's queens, the woman who dared to cuckold the king of England.

And while I was at it, I noticed this striking new cover for the June 2009 UK paperback release of Alison Weir's The Lady Elizabeth.