Fifth queen

The Fifth Queen trilogy has an omniscient narrator. Catherine Howard is presented in the first book as a devout Roman Catholic, a poor, young noblewoman, accompanied by her fiery cousin Thomas Culpeper. As Katherine becomes involved in many prudent, competing, and spying members of the Court of Henry VIII, she gradually rises in the Court, almost against her will. It draws more attention to the king, becomes associated with him, used by Cromwell, Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Kranmer, as well as less influential, although more personally connected, Nicholas Trockmorton. Her connection with the latter puts her at risk, since in January 1554 he was suspected of complicity in the Wyatt rebellion and arrested, and Katherine was also briefly involved in this. Katherine's straightforwardness, devotion to the Old Faith and training are what make her attractive to the king, as well as her youth and physical beauty.

Many of the strengths of this trilogy, as many writers and critics believe, in particular Graham Green, Alan Judd and William Gass, are impressionistic qualities, creating a credible approximation to Tudor English and successfully creating an atmosphere. One critic stated that this is clearly a work of fiction and should be avoided by any reader who prefers a more opaque style. Graham Green wrote that "Ford will try the impressionist method in The Fifth Queen." He compares the king with a “shadow”, telling the story of the struggle between Catherine and Cromwell. The question arises as to whether the coverage of the king is more a stage performance than a novel, again hinting at fiction, rather than a truly historical style. Alan Judd, in his author’s biography for 1991, argues that this version does not “impede the sensation of reality” in its effective style, depicting the trick of Tudor English. He compares the author’s dialogue with "sometimes concise poetic speech."

In the afterword of the 1986 edition, William Gass writes that he is "like Ivan Eisenstein: slow, intense, visual, and opera." He also associates writing with art.

In his biography, Alan Judd also compares him to a film about how he creates "static scenes" that involve "strength, fear, sex, longing, cunning and fate."

Judd comments that the novel could have remained in print if Ford had not written anything else. Judd even claims that it could be a “masterpiece” of his genre (historical fiction).

On the back cover, Green concludes that it could be one of the “Three Great Novels” (The Fifth Queen, Good Soldier, and The End of the Parade trilogy), which can stand the test of time compared to most of the work of his successors.

• The Fifth Queen at archive.org.
• The Fifth Queen Audiobook on LibriVox

• Ford, Ford Madox; Afterword by William Gass (1986). The Fifth Queen. New York: Eco Press.