{"id":121514,"date":"2025-05-22T03:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/121514\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T03:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:40:12","slug":"seven-books-to-read-if-you-loved-six-the-musical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/121514\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Books To Read If You Loved ‘SIX the Musical’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest post by The Queen\u2019s Musician<\/a> author Martha Jean Johnson<\/a>
<\/strong>Based in Jersey City, NJ, Martha has published four books on public opinion and politics and just released her debut novel, The Queen\u2019s Musician. She also comments on historical fiction and her own love of reading and writing in Historical Magic on Substack.<\/p>\n

The Queen\u2019s Musician tells a largely unknown tale about a young musician in the court of Henry VIII. Mark Smeaton rose from poverty to become one of the king\u2019s favorite players. Two days before Anne Boleyn\u2019s execution, he was beheaded along with four other men, all accused of adultery and treason with the queen. Most historians believe the charges against all the condemned were false. As BookLife noted: \u201cLittle is known about Mark Smeaton beyond his tragic fate. Yet Johnson imbues him with depth and dignity, transforming a historical footnote into a fully realized character whose story lingers long after the final page.\u201d<\/p>\n

For theater goers, Six is \u201cthe biggest new musical since <\/a>Hamilton<\/a>.\u201d I just saw it on Broadway, and it\u2019s easy to understand why. In the opening number, Henry VIII\u2019s six wives ask us to move beyond the old adage: \u201cDivorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, lived,\u201d In this rollicking production, each of the queens lights up the stage. Each one is resilient and undefeated.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to spend more time with these fascinating women, here are seven books you might want to read.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Constant Princess<\/strong> by Philippa Gregory<\/p>\n

Henry divorced Katherine of Aragon after two decades of marriage because she hadn\u2019t \u201cproduced\u201d a son. Popular entertainment often portrays her as the embittered first wife, but this highly gratifying novel describes the 15-year-old Spanish princess arriving in England to marry Prince Arthur, the heir to the throne. When Arthur dies unexpectedly, she weds his younger brother, the future Henry VIII. Gregory\u2019s narrative captures Katherine\u2019s resolve and intelligence and foreshadows what is to come. Not much is known about the relationship between Katherine and Arthur, but this author imagines a love story. You\u2019d have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWolf Hall<\/strong> by Hilary Mantel<\/p>\n

This first novel in Mantel\u2019s Thomas Cromwell trilogy won the prestigious Booker Prize. In it, Henry\u2019s exceedingly clever counselor helps oust Katherine of Aragon so the king can marry Anne Boleyn. But three years later, Anne hasn\u2019t had a son either. Cromwell senses the shift in the wind. Mantel\u2019s writing is propulsive, and her dialogue shimmers with acerbic wit. She promotes a revisionist view of Cromwell who is generally depicted as treacherous. Was he a civilized man trying to manage a volatile king or a consigliere pursuing his own ends?<\/p>\n

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\nBring Up the Bodies<\/strong> by Hilary Mantel<\/p>\n

Some say Mantel\u2019s second Cromwell novel is even better than her first. It garnered another Booker Prize. Here, Cromwell engineers Anne Boleyn\u2019s fall so Henry can marry Jane Seymour. The title refers to the command given to guards to conduct condemned prisoners to the scaffold. Mantel\u2019s storytelling bubbles with energy, although it\u2019s fair to ask whether she gives Cromwell a pass for his horrific solution to Henry\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n

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\nKatheryn Howard: The Scandalous Queen<\/strong> by Alison Weir<\/p>\n

Jane Seymour gave Henry the son he wanted but died shortly afterward. Cromwell then negotiated a marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves, but the king never took to this German princess. She wisely agreed to a lucrative divorce while Cromwell lost his head. Alison Weir\u2019s novel paints an endearing picture of Anne and a more troubling one of Henry\u2019s fifth bride, the nineteen-year-old Katheryn Howard. The author, a historian, weaves the factual record into a saga of a heedless young woman, her accommodating lady-in-waiting, and two handsome lovers. All will be executed. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\nFirebrand by Elizabeth Fremantle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Henry\u2019s sixth wife, Katherine Parr, is my favorite, and this novel, the source for the 2024 film with Jude Law and Alicia Vikander, dramatizes her alarming predicament. By this time, Henry was a 52-year-old monarch who had executed two wives. She was a 31-year-old widow in love with someone else. But you don\u2019t say \u201cno\u201d to Henry VIIII. Katherine becomes queen and, among other challenges, faces false charges of heresy.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe Matthew Shardlake Mysteries<\/strong> by C. J. Sansom<\/p>\n

Shardlake is a Tudor lawyer who investigates murders, and Henry\u2019s queens appear in several of these clever, meaty mysteries. Katherine Parr is the client in Lamentation, and Shardlake is a little sweet on her. But what makes these novels so compelling is their chilling portrait of Tudor politics: everyone must maneuver to please an absolute ruler, and truth often gives way to power.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nOn This Day in Tudor History<\/strong> by Claire Ridgway<\/p>\n

Among Tudor mavens, the old joke is: \u201cOn this day in Tudor history, something horrible happened.\u201d Unfortunately, the jest isn\u2019t too far from the truth. The women of Six faced a dangerous, unpredictable world, and historian Claire Ridgway summarizes the era\u2019s tragedies and crises in this smart, readable day-by-day compilation. Ridgway is one of the most trustworthy Tudor experts I know.<\/p>\n

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