Katherine Longshore

Gilt will be very familiar to fans of Philippa Gregory. The subject matter is what brought Ms. Gregory her fame, and even Katherine Longshore's writing style is eerily similar. However, Gilt is not just another copycat novel geared towards young adults. There is a brash, in-your-face quality to the entire story that accentuates just how dangerous this era was for anyone caught up in the machinations of the Tudor court. Ms. Longshore does an admirable job of explaining the notoriously show more complicated politics well enough that even the most ignorant reader will understand the dangers facing Catherine Howard and Kitty.

In spite of the twistings and turnings of the politics involved with Court life, Gilt remains true to the world of young adult fiction by remaining steadfast to the themes that permeate this genre. Kitty must discover the true meaning of friendship as well as determine her own path towards happiness. Cat learns to rue her actions through the ultimate penalty. It is a coming-of-age story with fatal consequences if the lessons are not fully learned.

As in most Tudor fiction, Catherine Howard gets a bad rap, and Gilt is no different. Cat is awful - selfish and vain-glorious. She lives to serve herself, and one does not have to know Tudor history to know in advance that her marriage to King Henry VIII is not going to end well. A reader will not be able to determine whether Kitty's steadfastness to Cat in spite of everything she is put through on Cat's behalf is due to her naivete, ignorance, or generous heart. Still, one cannot help but sympathize with this young woman torn between friendship and faithfulness, the glitter and glamour of the Court, and a future filled with the unfamiliar.

Ms. Longshore does an admirable job of taking an unknown historical figure and bringing her life. The fictional aspects Gilt blend seamlessly with the historical portions, rounding out a reader's mental image of the cast of characters as well as the environs in which they find themselves. The descriptions are robust, allowing readers to easily imagine the scenes, the scents, and the sounds. By using someone who would have had intimate knowledge of the Queen's comings and goings, more than her ladies-in-waiting ever would, readers get an even more insider view of life as the Queen of England as well as regular life during this era. It is a fabulous behind-the-scenes view of a not-so-fabulous period in history.

Acknowledgments: Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Young Readers Group for my e-galley. show less

If you know me at all, you know I'm a HUGE fan of the Tudor Era and anything that has to do with it (except the Showtime show because it's completely inaccurate.) When I found out that the amazing Katherine Longshore was coming out with her debut, Gilt, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Gilt mostly focuses on Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's 5th queen and one of my favorites. The story is written from Kitty's perspective, Cat's best friend, so we get an outsider's look into the dangerous show more world of the Tudor court. I know a few friends of mine struggled with the story, mainly due to Cat, but I absolutely loved it, and when an author can please someone as picky as me about historical accuracies and anything Tudor than I have to provide high praise.

Kitty is a rare breed in the Tudor court. She wants to marry for love, and she refuses to backstab, lie, or deceive in order to climb the rungs of the social ladder. Her loyalty to Cat is perhaps her biggest flaw, which is sad, but true! Cat, while a complete brat, I loved reading about her. Little is known about Catherine Howard, and I've read books where she's portrayed as merely a pawn in her Uncle's chess game who wishes to follow her heart, as well as books like this where Catherine is a manipulative and greedy girl scheming her way to the throne. Either way, I think I enjoy the scheming and manipulative Cat a little bit better.

Katherine Longshore has an amazing ability to bring history to life, staying true to many facts while using her creative license to expand on things that are not fully known. Her writing is elegant and accurate, while giving a character like Cat a completely sympathetic personality in the end. Despite the fact that I knew how Catherine Howard's life would end, I was pleasantly surprised with Longshore's ability to make me cry my eyes out at Kitty's desolation at the loss of her friend. Any author who can make me reach my heart out to a long dead queen deserves a standing ovation. Being able to keep predictability out of historical fiction is always hard, because we know how it ends. Longshore's ability to twist that ending and make it something memorable is something I absolutely love.

Overall, I loved the crap out of this book and I can't wait to get myself a pretty finished copy to place on my shelf. Katherine Longshore's ability to bring my favorite historical figures to life in a new and exciting way has me highly anticipating whatever she comes up with next. I would love to see Longshore write something about Catherine of Aragon, or even Anne Boleyn (who is my favorite of the Tudor queens!) Katherine Longshore is not only an amazing writer, but an amazing story-teller and she will grab you from the very beginning. If you're looking for some genuinely well-written, accurate, romantic, and pulse-pounding historical fiction, Gilt is something you should definitely pick up! show less

4.5/5 stars!

An absolutely gorgeous debut. This one kind of jumped me from behind - at first I thought it was going to be like so many of the historical YA books that left me feeling pretty uninspired, but the magic that Longshore weaves with her surprisingly masterful use of sensory language and imagery just kind of knocked me on my ass and left me begging for more. While there was a chapter or two that really dragged, "Gilt", for the most part, is a languid yet tense look at the real-life show more game of thrones that was the court of Henry VIII and will definitely draw teens in, whether they like it or not.

Beginning with Kitty's experience of young Cat's Court of Misrule within the house of the Duchess of Norfolk, Longshore really drew me in with the sensory experience of what a Tudor-ruled England looked, smelled, and felt like. You really experience everything in a very visceral way, and I literally read this one in about two sittings - both within one day. I couldn't stop turning the pages. Even though we all know the fate of the real-life Catherine Howard, seeing it from the age that we know Cat was when she became Henry's wife was startling, wonderful, and awful as we watch the wolves starting to circle and history is made.

There's been the frequent observation in other reviews of this book that some of the characters fell flat, but I didn't see that at all. Yes, some of them could have been rounded out more than others, but as Longshore is taking from history and did her research, we frankly don't know a lot about some of the characters that were featured in the book in real life, and there wasn't a lot to draw on. However, I respect her immensely for her afterword talking about her writing and research process for "Gilt", and after reading the abortion of a book that was "Spirit's Princess", it was just the balm I needed to soothe my jangled academic nerves. Longshore admitting where she took liberties was refreshing and really made me respect her. Yes, Kitty could have been more dynamic, but in the end, even in real life she wasn't as heavy a hitter as Catherine Howard. Cat's character is so large, both in real life and in the speculative life created within the book kind of blots many of the other characters out. It happens. But the way Longshore crafted the book more than made up for some of the paler characters within it.

I think my favorite part of the book itself was after Cat gets to court, and we see the aforementioned real life game of thrones that was going on with all of the political families/factions of Tudor England at the time - the Howards, the Tudors, and the other families all fighting for supremacy within the thinly veiled fraud that was courtly life. It was addicting to read, and I connected with it far easier than I did with Philippa Gregory's same content concerning the Tudor court.

Final verdict? If you're looking for a really well-written historical fiction piece, "Gilt" has to be your choice. It's on my best of 2012 list so far, and I can't wait until the next book comes out. "Gilt" is out through Viking Juvenile/Penguin Teen May 15, 2012 in North America, so be sure to check it out then. This is yet another 2012 debut that you just can't miss.

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, librarything, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com) show less

There's one thing you can say for Katherine Howard: she may not have had much in the way of brains or common sense, but she certainly knew what she wanted! And 'Gilt' by Katherine Longshore makes that abundantly clear!
Katherine was doomed from the start--beautiful, vivacious, free-spirited, flirtatious--and power-hungry. I'm surprised she was able to survive in Henry VIII's court as long as she did...but then, she WAS sleeping with him.

Anyway, this was quite a well-written debut. I certainly show more enjoyed it more than 'The King's Rose' about Katherine Howard, and it was a far more engrossing read than 'The Boleyn Inheritance' by Phillipa Gregory, (and half the pages too! Ha!)

It was a great page-turner, with a MAJOR cliff-hanger ending. I will certainly read more books in this series. I suppose my only qualms are that the POV was from Katherine's best friend, and not Katherine herself. I am NOT a fan of the new YA fad where the POV comes from the historical figure's fictional friend and not the actual historical figure herself. I'm tired of it already. Dang it! I don't want commentary!!! LOL!

My second qualm would be that there was hardly a likeable person in the book, and if there was, they certainly were not in there very long. But all in all, still an absorbing read. show less