Hachette, $29.99

Katherine of Aragon was the first wife of Henry VIII, and possibly, the wife who suffered most. She was a Spanish princess sent to England as a 16-year-old to marry his older brother, Arthur, and so unite two Catholic kingdoms.

Arthur died of tuberculosis after only six months of marriage, and Katherine eventually married Henry. After about 20 years of that union, and having "failed" to give birth to a living male heir, Katherine was dismissed from his side and divorced in what remains the most complicated divorce in history – one that led to England abandoning the Catholic Church.

Alison Weir has written 18 books of Tudor and Plantagenet history and has produced a highly readable take on a story that changed England. As a novelist, there is an effortlessness to her writing that demonstrates the depth of her knowledge about the topic without it straining the story-telling. She has given her characters lively voices but they never descend into caricature.

The book – the first of her Six Tudor Queens series – begins with Katherine, on her journey to England and covers her extensive rise and fall as queen. As with all historical novels, there are liberties taken, but they work well with the overarching story that historians know so well – a woman seeped in piety who dared to confront a king – and was punished ruthlessly for it.

On his divorce, Henry VIII tried to eliminate all traces of Katherine from his realm (he also did the same when he divorced – or had executed – another three wives. One other wife died in childbirth and another was widowed by Henry). But Katherine remains a much-loved figure, although one whose truth is wrapped up in myth.

This myth – much like that surrounding her successor and great rival, Anne Boleyn – lays out some of the questions Weir plays with: did she have sex with her first husband? Why did all but one of her children die as babies? Should she have fought Henry so hard?

Weir's Katherine is likeable and we get an understanding of how she developed her headstrong ways, her fierce loyalty to family, and her naivety – for she went to her death truly believing that Henry remained her husband.

Katherine's story can be viewed in two ways – as a fortunate woman whose stoic attitude played a role in her fall, or as a princess struck by tragedy. Weir presents a Katherine who was both of these and more.