York Explore Library : Wed 18 May : 7.00pm – 9.00pm :

£5 /£4 to Loyalty Card holders

Popular historian Alison Weir will visit York on the publication of the  her new novel, the first in a series of six about the wives of Henry VIII. Alison Weir tells the poignant story of Katherine of Aragon, the King’s first wife, drawing on new research and keeping closely to the historical record.

She approaches her tale from Katherine’s point of view, which affords an intimate psychological perspective on this indomitable, courageous and principled woman. Was Katherine’s union with Prince Arthur consummated? What happens when a happy royal marriage is overshadowed by dynastic pressures, doubts and the allure of an ambitious woman?

Alison Weir evokes a court peopled by the luminaries of the early Tudor age – Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell and the magnificent figure of Henry VIII himself – a young and athletic Henry, not yet marred by frustration and disappointment.

They live in a lost world of splendour and brutality, dominated by faith and by momentous religious change – a world in which there were few saints. This was Katherine’s world, and we can only understand her properly within its context.

Tickets are available from Waterstones York on 01904 620784 or book online here.

There are a maximum of 200 tickets.