{"product_id":"the-fifth-queen-9780307744913","title":"The Fifth Queen","description":"Ford Madox Ford's novel about the doomed Katharine Howard, fifth queen of Henry VIII, is a neglected masterpiece. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKat Howard--intelligent, beautiful, naively outspoken, and passionately idealistic--catches the eye of Henry VIII and improbably becomes his fifth wife. A teenager who has grown up far from court, she is wholly unused to the corruption and intrigue that now surround her. It is a time of great upheaval, as unscrupulous courtiers maneuver for power while religious fanatics--both Protestant and Catholic--fight bitterly for their competing beliefs. Soon Katharine is drawn into a perilous showdown with Thomas Cromwell, the much-feared Lord Privy Seal, as her growing influence over the King begins to threaten too many powerful interests. Originally published in three parts (\u003ci\u003eThe Fifth Queen, Privy Seal, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Fifth Queen Crowned\u003c\/i\u003e), Ford's novel serves up both a breathtakingly visual evocation of the Tudor world and a timeless portrayal of the insidious operations of power and fear in any era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFord Madox Ford was born Ford Hermann Hueffer in England in 1873. In 1919 he changed his name to Ford Madox Ford in honour of his grandfather, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown, whose biography he had written. Ford was well-known for both his fiction and his criticism. He founded two influential journals, \u003ci\u003eThe English Review\u003c\/i\u003e in 1908 and \u003ci\u003eThe Transatlantic Review\u003c\/i\u003e in 1924, in which he championed many of the leading modernist writers of the day. His most famous novels include the tetralogy \u003ci\u003eParade's End \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Good Soldier, \u003c\/i\u003ewhich are still ranked among the greatest literary works of the twentieth century. Ford died in 1939, at age sixty-five, in France.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50410097115410,"sku":"9780307744913","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d5f0ec41-d78d-48f4-b491-b82d4eff01d5.jpg?v=1729301645","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-fifth-queen-9780307744913","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}