Why would a woman wed a murderer? She can't refuse because... When King Henry VIII, a man who is old enough to be her father and has buried four wives, orders Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow having an affair with a new lover, she is left with no alternative but to marry him. Kateryn is certain of the danger she is in because the previous queen only reigned for sixteen months and the one before her for only six months. But as Kateryn unites the royal family, establishes a radical study circle at the centre of the court, and leads the realm as Regent, Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn's faith in him grows. But will this be sufficient to protect her? Kateryn distinguishes out as an independent lady with a strong opinion as a pioneer of religious reform and the first woman to publish in English. The conventional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy; the sentence is death by fire, and the king's name is on the warrant. However, she is powerless to help the Protestants, who are threatened for their religion, and Henry's menacing gaze turns on her. A highly personal picture of the final queen, a woman who yearned for passion, power, and education at the court of a mediaeval killer, comes from the author who has written about all of Henry's queens.