A Phoenix Rising: The House of the Red Duke: 1

I follow the author of this novel on Twitter and so decided to purchase a copy. I have been reading Tudor fiction for 34 years, and this book is quite unique to anything I have read before.The story is set against the backdrop of the 1520 ‘Field of Cloth of Gold’ and revolves around Thomas Howard, head of the powerful Howard family. It is set across 4 European courts, English, Scottish, French and Habsburg, and at the beginning of the book there is a list of these Houses of Europe, detailing all the major players, and some wonderful maps circa 1500, which I often referred back to.Tudor cooking is mentioned throughout and some charming medieval recipes are included to accompany the story.A helpful Glossary of 16th century terms and words are at the end of the novel, and I particularly savoured Thomas Howard’s referral to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as “a gorbellied footlicker” and “a swag-bellied popinjay”.I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book and would highly recommend buying a physical copy as it is such a pleasure to look at. I loved it.

Am loving this book. I originally borrowed it on kindle lending library but felt I needed a hard copy( so I could re read and get to the glosssary and maps quickly) so I bought one. A must for lovers of really good historical fiction.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up and was surprised at the ease with which I slipped into the story. It was nice to bump into historical characters that I know well and the visit to the Field of the Cloth of Gold felt as if I were there. I enjoyed the differing persectives and the writing style. Looking forward to Book Two.

I really enjoyed this novel of the Tudor period, which, in part, is about the mighty Howard family. I found the characters engaging and the writing style was different--there was a subtle humour which I appreciated, since so many books set at this time are tombstone serious. Setting much of it in Cornwall was a nice twist, as was the inclusion of Tudor recipes!

The book is about the less often told period of Henry VIII younger days when first married to Katherine of Aragon and the second Duke of Norfolk and first Thomas Howard, which is refreshing. However, the changing perspectives from one character to another was a little off putting, and some chapters were in third person perspective to confuse me more. If I put the book down for a while then picked it up again I had to go to the front of the chapter to see who the chapter was about.