My recent encounters with the prolific and versatile British writer Alison Weir have been intentional explorations of her voice as both historian and novelist, a gap that is often much wider than most authors can successfully bridge. But with KATHARINE PARR, THE SIXTH WIFE --- the last in her series of fictional biographies of Henry VIII's wives --- Weir cements her well-deserved renown as a novelist and historian who elevates both genres far beyond expectation.

In this story, Weir portrays a persevering and adaptable woman who was simultaneously the most fortunate and unfortunate of King Henry's wives. Katharine was constantly under threat by rival power-mongers at court, yet survived her notorious royal husband without giving him a male heir, only to die in childbirth after finally marrying her true love, Thomas Seymour.

"Katharine's personality seems no mere fantasy, but an honest and empathic embrace of feminine power and vulnerability that is deeply relatable for women of every historical era."

Woven into the known facts of 16th-century English history --- who married who, who died at the whim of royal temper or suspicion, who wielded maximum influence at court, who and what ignited battles and wars --- Weir combines the fruits of vast research and intuition to create a sympathetic and credible character who uses wit, education and style to navigate through the religious and political ferment that made for dangerous times at the Tudor court.

We will never know the extent of Katharine Parr's actual writings, spoken words, shared confidences, secret and/or clandestine manipulations, subversive associations, and many other details of her personal life. But that she had one of unusual interest and celebrity is beyond doubt. Filling in that life with believable yet fictional incidents and relationships that intermingle with the last queen's real ones is a challenge that only an accomplished social and cultural historian could pull off.

The historical "bones" of what took place within her lifespan of 1512 to 1548 remain inviolate throughout KATHARINE PARR, THE SIXTH WIFE, but Weir's myriad fictional details concerning manners, clothing, food, illnesses, recreation, child-rearing, marital relations, expressions of love, women's status and duties all reinforce and enliven the facts that inspired them.

Perhaps most poignant and memorable is Weir's creative entry into the depths of a Tudor queen's heart and mind. Katharine's personality seems no mere fantasy, but an honest and empathic embrace of feminine power and vulnerability that is deeply relatable for women of every historical era.