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Young and Damned and Fair
- The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard at the Court of Henry VIII
- Narrated by: Jenny Funnell
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
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Young and Damned and Fair
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Publisher's Summary
England, July 1540: it is one of the hottest summers on record, and the court of Henry VIII is embroiled once again in political scandal. Anne Cleves is out. Thomas Cromwell is to be executed and, in the countryside, an aristocratic teenager named Catherine Howard prepares to become fifth wife to the increasingly unpredictable monarch.
In the five centuries since her death, Catherine Howard has been dismissed as 'a wanton', 'inconsequential' and a naïve victim of her ambitious family, but the story of her rise and fall offers not only a terrifying and compelling story of an attractive, vivacious young woman thrown onto the shores of history thanks to a king's infatuation but an intense portrait of Tudor monarchy in microcosm: how royal favour was won, granted, exercised, displayed, celebrated and, at last, betrayed and lost.
The story of Catherine Howard is both a very dark fairy tale and a gripping political scandal. Born into the nobility and married into the royal family, during her short life Catherine was almost never alone. Attended every waking hour by servants or companions, secrets were impossible to keep. With his research focus on Catherine's household, Gareth Russell has written a narrative that unfurls as if in real time to explain how the queen's career ended with one of the great scandals of Henry VIII's reign. More than a traditional biography, this is a very human tale of some terrible decisions made by a young woman and of complex individuals attempting to survive in a dangerous hothouse where the odds were stacked against nearly all of them.
By illuminating Catherine's entwined upstairs/downstairs worlds and bringing the listener into her daily milieu, the author retells her story in an exciting and engaging way that has surprisingly modern resonances and offers a fresh perspective on Henry's fifth wife.
Young and Damned and Fair is a riveting account of Catherine Howard's tragic marriage to one of history's most powerful rulers. It is a grand tale of the Henrician court in its twilight, a glittering but pernicious sunset during which the king's unstable behaviour and his courtiers' labyrinthine deceptions proved fatal to many, not just to Catherine Howard.
Critic Reviews
What listeners say about Young and Damned and Fair
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sarah Williams
- 27-05-2022
Brilliant
Engrossing, and intriguing, I was sad to finish! Gareth Russell’s writing is brilliant - can’t wait to read more of his work and I hope he does more on Tudor times. Jenny Funnell’s narration was just perfect.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz
- 10-11-2017
Wonderful!
Just when you think you know the reasons for the behaviour of some people, along comes a story like this, and it makes you realise how far some of us are willing to go... or more to the point, how far your own family will take you for their purposes... Catherine Howard is a victim of circumstance, at a time when God might have forgiven you, but the ruler of your realm would not... a time when a woman's opinion counted for nothing and her only reason for living was to procreate, even though it could cost the lives of mother and child... and you would never consider disobeying your parents whose efforts are dedicated to placing you in a marriage of convinience for the whole family and discribed as 'a goodly match'...promised to a man at the age of eight, married to him at the age of twelve, and could deliver your first child at 13... you are not to contradict your husband, especially if your husband is Henry VIII, or you will lose your head... What a world! Gareth Russel does one hell of a job, with his details and descriptions, making you cringe, suffer and empathise with Our Lady Katherine, Queen Consort and temporary resident of The Tower. Jenny Funnell has a voice that I can hear coming out of Katherine, just beautiful. And the story is guaranteed to rival her cousin's, Anne Boleyn. Five Stars right across the board!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angipoo123
- 15-04-2022
Brilliantly researched and written
This is the best book I’ve ever read on Katherine Howard. Gareth brings Katherine, her family and peers, as well as the entire Tudor period of that time to life.
I liked that this book did not vilify Katherine but presented her as a young woman who was too young and and not mindful enough of the real dangers of her actions with Thomas Culpeper… a very sad tale of young young lives snuffed out before they even lived.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sue
- 11-11-2018
A well researched book for the history buffs
A balanced and well researched book on one of Henry VIII's lesser known queens. A fascinating look into the Tudor world.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth Finch
- 22-03-2024
My favourite Tudor book of all time
I have listened to his beautifully crafted and elegantly narrated book so many times, I’ve lost count.
It’s well balanced, well supported and entertaining
I particularly appreciate the way the author gave a multi faceted perspective of Catherine. She was portrayed as a human with flaws. This piece didn’t fall into the trap of defending or demonising the characters. Too often historians use absolutisms and deliberately omit facts as a counter argument to the previous fashionable hypothesis. This book is one of the few examples of balanced historical writing that wasn’t peddling a political ideology or agenda.
It presented a perfectly imperfect and therefore extremely likeable Catherine along with all the characters around her and the court. All of which made it totally real, understandable, and imaginable
I just wish there were more like this. Especially of Mary 1, and Mary queen of Scot’s. I’m so bored with the saintly female 2 dimensional stuff out there.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jacquelyn
- 28-03-2022
Insight into the life of Henry VIII's lesser known
A fascinating insight into Henry VIII of England's fifth wife. Catherine Howard is often dismissed as a young, promiscuous bimbo yet Russell makes a compelling argument of a young girl caught in an unavoidable situation.
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