Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Katherine of Aragon Story
Wendy J. Dunn
In the Falling Pomegranate Seeds Duology, readers are transported to the rich historical tapestry of 15th and 16th-century Europe, where the lives of remarkable women unfold against the backdrop of political upheaval and personal struggles.
In the first book, beginning in 1490 Castile, Doña Beatriz Galindo, a passionate and respected scholar, serves as an advisor to Queen Isabel of Castile. Beatriz yearns for a life beyond the constraints imposed on women, desiring to control her own destiny. As she witnesses the Holy War led by Queen Isabel and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, Beatriz dedicates herself to guiding Queen Isabel’s youngest child, Catalina of Aragon, on her own path. Beatriz’s role as a tutor and advisor becomes instrumental in shaping Catalina’s future as she prepares to become England’s queen.
Fast forward to the winter of 1539 in the second book, where María de Salinas, a dear friend and cousin of Catalina (now known as Katherine of Aragon), pens a heartfelt letter to her daughter, the Duchess of Suffolk. Unable to make the journey from her London home due to illness, María shares her life story, intricately woven with her experiences alongside Catalina. Their friendship has endured through exile and tumultuous times. María seeks to shed light for her daughter on the choices she has made in a story exploring themes of friendship, betrayal, hatred, and forgiveness. Through María’s narrative, we ask the eternal question…will love ultimately triumph?
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Please enjoy an excerpt from The Duty of Daughters:
Night fell. Cold, Beatriz curled up in her narrow trundle bed, trying to get comfortable, trying to sleep. The infantas talked softly to one another in the shared chamber, the older ones engrossed in the plans to celebrate Isabel’s wedding in Sevilla. At last the excited infantas settled down, their discussions dissipating to a lulling word here and there until the breathing of Juana and María became that of the sleeping. Beatriz closed her heavy eyes and began to drift towards dream, only to be startled back into wide-eyed wakefulness by Catalina’s excited voice. Very young, the child’s tone punctuated the growing silence. “You never spoke of him.”
Covered with white furs, Princess Isabel twisted on her couch, grey shadow falling like a blanket on her slender form. Near night candles lit up her teeth and eyes.
“Alfonso? How could I? The match wasn’t set in stone. Indeed, our father fought for years to dissolve the contract of my betrothal. And for good reason. I am the heir to our mother’s throne after Juan, God protect him.” Isabel crossed herself. “That might prove true for our father’s kingdom, too. Mother wants Father to force Aragon to stop insisting on male succession.” She glanced at Catalina. “Also, the King of Portugal may have agreed to settle for our sister María, once she reached marriageable age.”
Catalina rolled on the narrow pallet to face her sister. “You did not want that?”
Isabel shifted like one discomforted. “You’re no longer an infant. You should know by now that what we want for ourselves matters very little. We serve, and obey.”
Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder.
Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.
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