La Reine Blanche (Mary Tudor, A Life in Letters)

Mary Tudor’s childhood was overshadowed by the men in her life: her father, Henry VII, and her brothers Arthur, heir to the Tudor throne, and Henry VIII. These men and the beliefs held about women at the time helped to shape Mary’s life. She was trained to be a dutiful wife and at the age of 18 married the French king, Louis XII, 34 years her senior. When her husband died three months after the marriage, Mary took charge of her life and shaped her own destiny. As a young widow, had the opportunity to show the world the strong, self-willed, determined woman she always had been. She remarried for love and at great personal risk to herself. She loved and respected Katherine of Aragon and despised Anne Boleyn—a dangerous position to take. Sarah Bryson has returned to primary sources, state papers and letters, to unearth the truth about Mary Tudor, whose story is told through her own words for the first time.