Spring 1540. Henry VIII is trying to get rid of his unattractive German wife Anne of Cleves. The prematurely aged king looks favorably at the pretty nineteen-year-old maid of honor Catherine Howard, cousin of Anne Boleyn. Cheerful and cheerful Catherine readily accepts the king's courtship, to which her ambitious family strongly pushes her. The king in love annuls his marriage to his hateful wife and within two weeks marries Catherine, whom he affectionately calls a rose without thorns. Catherine bravely endures the nightly embrace of the sick king in the hope of giving birth to a son in order to strengthen her position. Unfortunately, the shadow of past mistakes not only darkens the carefree life of the young queen, but also exposes her to mortal danger. The tragic fate of this girl, deceived in her expectations, is one of the saddest pages of English history. “The Vicious Queen. A Novel about Catherine Howard" is the fifth book by the popular author and famous historian Alison Ware, who decided to create a dramatic series dedicated to the six wives of King Henry VIII. For the first time in Russian!