In the Shadow of the Crown — Jean Plaidy

OF ALL THE WOMEN HENRY VIII BETRAYED, HIS DAUGHTER MARY SUFFERED THE MOST....

Had Mary Tudor been born the boy that her father desperately wanted, both her own life and the course of English history might have been dramatically different. As it happened, however, she and her mother, Queen Katharine, were cast aside in favor of the enchanting Anne Boleyn. In a move that shocked the world, Henry declared his first marriage illegal and young Mary herself illegitimate and not entitled to her rightful royal heritage.

But Henry and the wealthy new gentry who supported him had not reckoned on Mary's stubborn courage--and her willingness to fight and die for her Catholic faith and the common people who loved her. Her only weakness was her womanly heart, which longed for the warmth and love that her destiny would never allow.

Set in an age of high drama -- when great men rose and fell in the twinkling, of an eye -- Mary Tudor's story is one of heartwrenching suspense, and its proud, tormented heroine -- often unfairly maligned -- commands pity and great admiration.