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Katherine Longshore
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Gilt Kindle Edition

by Katherine Longshore (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 109 ratings
Editors' pick Best Young Adult
See all formats and editions
In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free--
and love comes at the highest price of all.

When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    12 years and up
  2. Print length
    411 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 9
  5. Lexile measure
    HL660L
  6. Publisher
    Speak
  7. Publication date
    May 15, 2012
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  12. ISBN-13
    978-0670013999
  13. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“In modern times, Cat would most likely be a cheerleader; the king, captain of the football team. But the royal backdrop with historical underpinnings makes a far more interesting story…Readers can practically feel the embroidered ball gowns and hand-stitched lace.” –The Los Angeles Times

"I believe I found my new favorite series"- MTV.com

“Longshore, who's clearly done her historical homework, takes full advantage of the Tudor standards. . . and surroundings. . .  but Cat is a completely contemporary American teenager.”—BCCB

“Longshore writes a believable novel of historical fiction with well-developed characters and entertaining . . . plot twists.”—VOYA

“A good, juicy story . . . royally riveting for the reader.”—Booklist

“A substantive, sobering historical read, with just a few heaving bodices.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Kitty Tylney has always lived in the shadow of her best friend, Cat. Then Cat worms her way into the court of King Henry VIII - and into the King's heart. When Cat brings her best friend into her inner circle at court, Kitty is thrust into a glittering new life of fabulous gowns, opulent parties, and dashing men vying for her attention. But Kitty soon discovers that beneath the golden veneer lies a world of secrets and lies, trysts and back-door deals, where the price of gossip could literally be her head.Once you've clawed your way to the top, there's nowhere to go but down...and it's a long fall from the Queen of England's throne.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0064W621E
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Speak (May 15, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 15, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2378 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 411 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 109 ratings

About the author

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Katherine Longshore

Katherine Longshore

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Katherine Longshore grew up on the northern California coast. At university, she created her own major in Cross-Cultural Studies and Communications, planning to travel and write. Forever. Four years, six continents and countless pairs of shoes later, she went to England for two weeks, stayed five years and discovered history. She now lives in California with her husband, two children and a sun-worshiping dog.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
109 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anna Silvernail Sweat
5.0 out of 5 stars GILT shines as both YA and historical fiction!
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2012
Verified Purchase
For the record, I am not a historical fiction reader. I mean, I've read a little historical fiction, like THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL and some of the OUTLANDER series, but it's not my shtick. So I was very curious when I came across GILT by Katherine Longshore, if it would really have the power to hold my attention. And I wanted to know how the author proposed to make a subgenre like historical fiction work in a YA novel. But what truly drew me to this mesmerizing read was the period and the characters. If there is a time in history that captures me, it's Tudor England. If there is a figure in history who can captivate me, it's King Henry VIII and/or one of his ill-fated wives.

Let me assure you, Longshore does not disappoint. While we all know about the infamous Anne Boleyn, the equally juicy character of Catherine Howard may be a little in her predecessor's shadow. But Longshore does a masterful job of bringing this notorious queen to the forefront through the voice of her best friend, a mysterious Kitty Tylney. Caught up in Catherine's rush and rise to the throne and then the subsequent plummet to the chopping block, Kitty finds herself torn between loyalty to her friend, loyalty to the throne, and loyalty to her heart. As Kitty weaves the tale of Catherine for us and her maddening, meteoric dash to the top, where absolute power corrupts absolutely, we watch her navigate her own sordid love triangle. All while trying to circumvent the web of allegiances at court and save her own skin.

You know how scary movies based on a true story seem that much scarier? Well, in the same way, because GILT is based on actual history, the winding plot, troubled characters, and complex setting are just that much richer. But the bottom line here is, Longshore is an excellent writer and this is simply one of the best reads of the year, YA or otherwise.
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Ruth Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, page-turning - perfect summer read!
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2016
Verified Purchase
The youngest daughter of a family of little fortune and less consequence, as a child Katherine “Kitty” Tylney was sent to live off the largess of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, until such a time as she should be fortunate enough to make a marriage – should her family deign to expend any such effort on her behalf. Alone and unwanted, the friendless girl was adopted by her more charismatic, and marginally less impoverished peer in the Duchess’s household – Catherine “Cat” Howard. Years pass, and Kitty comes of age in Cat’s shadow, ever loyal to her friend who has become increasingly determined to make her mark on the world, with an eye to escaping Norfolk for the treacherous, powerful court of Henry VIII. When Kitty finally gets her chance to follow Cat into the spotlight of court life, will the price of power prove demand too great a price for their friendship to survive?

I was in the mood for a soap opera, and as absolutely nothing beats the Tudor court for juicy scandal and drama – something Gilt’s lushly appointed cover promised in spades. This novel marks Katherine Longshore’s first young adult foray into Henry VIII’s glittering world, and she couldn’t have picked a more perfect subject than Henry’s infamous teenage bride, the ill-fated Catherine Howard. I’ve always rather thought Catherine must have been rather silly and immature, an opinion that seems to be supported by the historical record. She was certainly far out of depth as her end proves, her rise and ruin complete in just eighteen short months, her fate sealed by the confidence that consequences were for other people – an assumption that as undone many a person, teenage or not, throughout history.

Within the pages of Gilt, Catherine Howard is transformed from arguably Henry’s most inconsequential wife into a fully-realized, deliciously manipulative Mean girl, with stars in her eyes and venom on her tongue, fiercely determined to succeed and equally blind to the pride that would prove to be her downfall. But rather than choose Cat as her point-of-view character, Longshore smartly selects Katherine Tylney as voice and lens through which to view Cat’s rise and fall – as who better to relate Cat’s story than one who knew her best and lived it alongside her? The names and lives of those who served royalty are largely lost to time, as history typically preserves the detailed minutiae of those whos lives are instead writ large across history’s pages. Taking as her inspiration for Kat’s character the brief recorded testimony of the Katherine Tylney who testified at Cat’s trial, therein identified as one of the queen’s servants, Longshore re-imagines Kat as a long-time friend and companion of Catherine, and as such the perfect foil to the ill-fated queen’s temperament and trajectory at court.

How much is history and how much is supposition is up for debate, but Longshore has certainly done her research and her case for Kitty’s role in Cat’s life is a compelling one (Longshore’s author’s note his an informative and interesting glimpse into her research process). Regardless, I cannot recommend this novel highly enough as a stellar example of juicy, compulsively readable historical fiction. I devoured Gilt in a less than two days, a rare feat anymore for this reader – but more importantly than that, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the character of Kitty. She may be largely Longshore’s invention, but that said she’s a believable one, and a starkly honest sketch of a woman’s worth and prospects in the sixteenth century. Longsore doesn’t shy away from the sexual politics or attitudes of the day, but she isn’t gratuitous in the least. And given the recent outcry over the ruling in the Stanford rape case, it’s equal parts disheartening and maddening to read of Thomas Culpepper’s lechery and realize just how far we haven’t come in over four centuries as regards the issue of consent.

I absolutely loved the dysfunctional, occasionally toxic, sisterhood at the center of this novel. Cat and Kitty’s circle is completed by two additional alumna from Norfolk – Joan Bulmer and Alice Restwold (although their intimacy with Catherine pales in comparison to her friendship with Kitty). For all of the jealousies and petty squabbles that ran rife within a circle of four teenage girls, Kitty comes to realize the full value of that circle only when it has been irreparably broken by Cat’s arrest and trial. But even a queen’s ruin cannot dissolve all the bonds of such a sisterhood, as Kitty discovers in her most critical hour that it is Alice, she whom she liked and trusted least, perhaps knew her best, and in doing so orchestrated her unlikely path of salvation. In a world ruled by men, it will never cease to fascinate me to read stories of women fighting to determine their own futures.

Gilt is the perfect summer read – a lushly told, wildly entertaining historical romp. While grounded in history, Longshore gleefully embraces Catherine’s reputation as something of a witless flirt, hopelessly out of her depth at court, but with the added edge of calculating, biting selfishness. Cat is a mean girl on a power trip, which makes for a crazy entertaining, compulsively readable experience. I loved seeing Cat and the Tudor court through the lens of Kitty’s experience, as through her eyes, Longshore examines the cost of power and double-edged sword of secrets and friendship. Kitty’s ending isn’t wrapped in a neat bow as I expected, and I loved it all the more for that air of authenticity. With the far-off promise of possible romance and the hard-won chance at self-determination, Kitty’s story is a welcome, refreshing entry in the ranks of Tudor-set fiction, a world I’ll happily revisit.
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BILLY
5.0 out of 5 stars THANK YOU!!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2021
Verified Purchase
LOVED LOVED LOVED
It came so fast and in such great condition I was so so so pleased thank you so much!! Most definitely would buy from you again 😄
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Top reviews from other countries

Krystal Lalonde
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful novel. Great for someone who adores the British ...
Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2018
Verified Purchase
Wonderful novel. Great for someone who adores the British Court and history. From my personal research seems mostly historically correct as to the approximate dates of the events and characters involved. Artistic license is used to give the narrator a fuller character and plot
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars New champion of Tudor fiction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
I loved this book, I absolutely loved it. It seems a lot of Tudor fiction follows the same path and writing style to a hundred other books and a lot of them all read the same. Not this book. The author has an amazing way of putting a face to a name. The characters act and speak as if they're actually involved in what's happening, which is a refreshing change to a lot of books that sound stunted and flat in an attempt to make everything sound as 'Tudor' as possible, resulting in the character's dialogue sounding like actors reading a script. The style is a little more modern in how the characters act and talk which I think for a group of lower ranking nobility suits beautifully, given the fact that Katherine Howard was just a common girl. Its a believable account of how an girl from no background, with no wealth and no great status, who was by many accounts flirty and vain, would react to suddenly having the world at her fingertips. This seems to get lost in a lot of other books under a layer of ill fitting characteristics used to describe her that clash with historical accounts on her personality, in an attempt to try and justify her actions. I enjoyed this book immensely, and the authors other works.
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Cynthia Rabet
4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely interesting book - a real page-turner!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2015
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I have read the first two chapters of this book, and it promises to be an extremely interesting book.
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Alison
3.0 out of 5 stars Gilt
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
I had massive hopes for this - how often do you find a book on Catherine Howard, since the poor creature wasn't around long enough to make any kind of an impact. But within 3 pages 'Cat' "dove" into a chest and at that point I began to be put off. I honestly believe that if you're going to write a book set in England in whatever time period, then you should make an effort to use the language of the time. The rhythm of this writing is far too modern, the word usage is far too American. It's like reading about a girl called Cat... I'm not asking for a book full of 'forsooth' speaking, but when I compare it to, for example, Anne O'Brien or the wonderful and much missed Ariana Franklin, this falls short on every level. I persevered for a little longer, but at no point did I feel engaged with the character who comes across as far too modern. I realise nobody knew much about her and so she is very much open to interpretation, and at her age and with her education, it's entirely possible that she was flighty and lacking in substance. But the one thing she was not? American.
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Tommy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
Enjoyed it very much
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