Ford Madox Ford 
The Fifth Queen 

Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939) was an English novelist, essayist, memoirist, poet and critic. He founded literary journals such as ’The English Review’ and ’The Transatlantic Review’ which were instrumental in the development of early 20th century English literature. He published renowned authors such as Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy, William Butler Yeats and many more in these influential journals and even collaborated with Joseph Conrad on three novels. He is now best remembered for ’The Good Soldier’ (1915), the ’Parade’s End’ tetralogy (1924-28) and ’The Fifth Queen’ trilogy (1906-08). ’The Fifth Queen’ is a fictionalized account of the fifth wife of England’s Henry VIII, Katharine Howard. Katherine is depicted as armed only with education, wit and honesty. The plot-ridden court comes to dramatic life as everyone high and low maneuvers for advantage. Everyone except Katherine, whose unwillingness to scheme will make her the queen and defenseless at the same time.