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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
The Duty of Women by Caroline Willcocks follows Kat Cooke, a female musician living alongside the women of the Tudor court, who learns she is the secret daughter of King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon. Kat is wedged between loyalty to her mother, Queen Katherine, and her service to Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife. As all this builds, Kat’s marriage to Will suffers as his support for Henry’s authority conflicts with her loyalty to her mother. Kat’s internal conflict and the power shifts at court, including Anne’s rise and eventual downfall, the birth of Jane Seymour’s son, and the consequences of Kat’s actions in an ever-changing political landscape, are all narrated in the first person. As Kat reels in the aftermath of Queen Katherine’s death and her own pregnancy, we see again just how tenuous it is being a woman in Henry's wake.
In The Duty of Women, Caroline Willcocks offers a dramatic portrayal of the Tudor court through Kat Cooke. The immediate admission that she is a legitimate daughter of Henry and Katherine, and how that is even possible, is covered effectively for readers coming in without having read book one in the series. I live in England and, such is my love of the Tudor period, that I was married at Hever Castle. Hand over heart, this is the first book I've read that took this approach and it does work. Willcocks' writing is simple and straightforward, and, because Kat is journal-writing for her daughter, the descriptions are personal and really intimate. This provides another angle to inject insight unique to Kat and one that readers of the genre will not feel is recycled. Overall, this is a solid read that mixes the precarious position of women in a time and place dominated by men and history with a twist. Recommended.
