Lies and Lust in the Tudor Court tells the story of the teenager, Katheryn Howard, and her marriage to the aging, ill-tempered Henry VIII. To some she is considered a harlot and a greedy girl from an even greedier family. To others she is a victim, in love with another man and forced to marry the King. In truth she was a mercurial, strong-willed, sexually appealing woman trapped by the dangerous politics of the Tudor court and her barren womb. Her final words when she knelt at the executioner's block were, "I die the Queen of England, but I would have rather died the wife of Thomas Culpeper." Not as well known as her famous cousin, Anne Boleyn, Katheryn's story is every bit as exciting and dangerous. It is a piece of history that has the power to stimulate our imagination five hundred years later.

マーガレット・ドナーの本作は、キャサリン・ハワードを単なる犠牲者としてではなく、政治の渦中で愛に殉じようとした情熱的な女性として鮮烈に描いています。虚飾に満ちたテューダー王朝の冷徹な機構と、彼女の意志の強い生命力の対比が、読者の魂を激しく揺さぶります。 特筆すべきは、不毛な子宮という残酷な宿命を背負わされた彼女が、処刑台で見せた究極の自己主張です。王冠よりも愛を選んだ最期の言葉に凝縮された、五百年を経ても色褪せない切実なエモーション。歴史の影に埋もれがちな一人の少女の「生」を、スリリングかつ崇高に蘇らせた比類なき文芸傑作です。