Historical novelist Philippa Gregory returns to Tudor England with this tale of the challenge-strewn life of the Spanish Infanta Catalina, who became Queen Katherine, Henry VIII's first wife. Originally married to Henry's older brother, Prince Arthur, she must honor her late husband's memory and deathbed wish by denying the truth of their passionate but short-lived love. By claiming that their union was unconsummated, Catalina makes herself eligible to marry the young Henry and eventually become queen, so that she can try to carry out the plans she and the late Arthur made for England's future.