We are excited to announce that Alison Weir will be joining us at Southwark Cathedral to launch her new Tudor novel The Boleyn Secret.

Kate Carey is the daughter of Mary Boleyn. At the age of twelve, Kate attends her aunt, Queen Anne Boleyn, to the scaffold. Horrified by her grim end, and believing her innocent, she conceives a deep hatred for King Henry VIII, who sent his wife to a terrible death.

Kate spends much of her young life as a companion to the Princess Elizabeth, Henry and Anne's daughter. The two become close, and when Kate marries Sir Francis Knollys for love, Elizabeth is jealous.

As time passes, Kate begins to sense that there is a secret associated with her own background. Only when her mother is on her deathbed does she find out the awful truth.

It is a secret that will follow Kate throughout her life, as she flees religious persecution with her husband and lives abroad in fear, only returning home when Elizabeth becomes queen. But the bond between the Boleyn cousins will never be the same again.

Dr Alison Weir is the United Kingdom’s most popular and best-selling female historian, and has sold over 3 million books worldwide. Rich in detailed research, Alison’s engaging prose has captured the interest and imagination of countless people, instilling a love of history that has influenced the career paths of historians, historical novelists and teachers, while also greatly increasing knowledge of medieval and Tudor English history among people throughout the world. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an honorary life patron of Historic Royal Palaces and an honorary Doctor of Bishop Grosseteste University.