SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII (A.FRASER) (WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON)

The six wives of Henry VIII - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr - have become defined by the way these lives ended. But, as Antonia Fraser conclusively proves, they were rich and feisty characters. They may have been victims of Henry's obsession with a male heir, but they were not willing victims. Each displayed considerable strength and intelligence at a time when their sex supposedly possessed little of either.