Summary of Heretic Wind

The novel opens in October 1558, a month before Mary’s death. She knows that she is dying, and that her body and mind are failing her. Her courtiers are already lining up to ingratiate themselves with her half-sister Elizabeth, the soon-to-be queen.

Arnopp paints a cruel world of personal power, of the king obsessed with male-line primogeniture, of controlling courtiers at his whim. They in turn feel they can control others at their whims.

Mary starts as the child Princess of Wales, the “pearl” of his father and she knows early that she may inherit the throne unless a male prince is born.

As Henry’s desire for a prince is frustrated, he concludes that it is punishment by God for the marriage to Catherine of Aragon (who was wed to his brother Arthur). He wants to be free of that sin, to marry another woman (and beget the male child that he so badly wants). Along with many in the Catholic world, this is of course resisted by both Catherine when she is alive, and by Mary.

Mary retells of her humiliation of being thrust down to be a servant to her sister—a real bit of history. She talks of the indignity of being finally welcomed at court after she signs the papers acknowledging that Henry is the head of church and state, and that the marriage of Henry to Catherine was ‘unclean.’

The theme of continuous trial by God does not end when Mary ascends to the throne. Responsibility of state, the need to defend herself against enemies within (such as Elizabeth), to projecting personal power in the medieval world requires her to be more and more forceful. Any instability (like the Wyatt rebellion) is a personal attack against her–as a monarch, head of state, and as a woman.

Her original desire to return England to its religious traditions hardens into persecution of heretics.

Even then, Mary still has some inner doubts about her decisions, such as if she should have spared the children. However, her personal worldview of them being instruments of the devil sent to test her quickly overcomes any doubt.

As she near the end of her life, Mary is tended to by a handful of her women and servants, one of whom is a child named Anne. Despite Mary’s hatred for Anne Boleyne, Mary tells her story of trials to this Anne because she knows that there is nobody that could give her that comfort. Mary cannot share her story with her attending ladies. However… an opinion of a commoner… is not important. Anne, in effect allows Mary her final confession of sorts.

Despite initially commenting that Anne was the name of the woman chiefly responsible for ruining her life, over the course of the story, Mary does appear to grow fond of the servant girl. When she learns that Anne is of gentile birth, she orders her a gown for and orders her lady-in-waiting to find a gentler, less trying occupation for her.

Mary believes herself to be a good person, and a good Catholic. In the closing of the book, as she dies, her last thoughts are to protect the ‘good Catholics’ closest to her—Lady Susan and in, an irony that is not lost on Mary herself, Anne.

Bloody Mary’s Story

What is it like, to have everything at your fingers, and yet to have nothing in your hand? Mary’s historical reputation makes her an unlikely subject for empathy… which is why this book is so wonderful. Arnopp puts us into Mary’s head, and allows us to discover a different and very human Mary.

Aside from Mary’s occasional rages, this is a quiet book, with the first-person narration giving voice to Mary herself.

This to me was the most interesting aspect of the book—history is a story of winners. Fox’s “Bloody” Mary Tudor is invariably painted as an evil person. Despite being the most powerful person in the realm, one that overcame all sorts of personal challenges and threats, Mary Tudor is also weak and powerless over her fate.

Arnopp lets Mary tell us her fears and wishes, and show us her internal pains, struggles, and doubts.

I heartily recommend The Heretic Wind to any lover of Tudor-era historical fiction.

Learn more about Judith Arnopp. Explore Judith Arnopp’s books on Amazon.