Jane Popincourt

I was reading the post by Daphne at Tanzanite's Blog and she mentions that "The Pleasure Palace: Secrets of the Tudor Court" by Kate Emerson is now available on Amazon.

This is the novel of a Jane Popincourt (Popyncourt) who was a slightly promiscuous Frenchwoman who becomes the first mistress of Henry VIII. Apparently she is brought to the English court by Henry VII to be a companion to his daughters Margaret and Mary. (I had read she was a tutor on Wikipedia?)
The summary says she was brought as a ward to the English court for safety from France following the death of King Charles. I find it interesting that Henry VIII, a man touted as frivolous and perhaps not the best reputation, only had a few mistresses. So here is the story of one of them. The second mistress was Bessie Blount who gave Henry his sought after son he had wanted from Catherine of Aragon for so long. Another famous mistress was Anne Boleyn, his second Queen, then Jane Seymour became his third Queen. (Were there any more mistresses? Mary Boleyn of course, before Anne..)

With this novel, here is the story of a vivacious Jane Popincourt where she falls in love with a French prisoner of war and her perilous path to happiness in an unruly English court. There are rumors of murder, affairs, and many court celebrations.

There is an Interview here with the author Kate Emerson and she gives some insights as to the influences she drew on while writing the book, as there is some confusion about Jane's origin and there is not much know about her. For instance, was she French or Flemish? What exactly was the family tie that put her in the position to be a ward of King Henry VII? Kate says that this novel is as true to history as she could make it, and of course adding her little spin to make it into a novel and to bring together gaps in history.

Of more interest, Kate Emerson is the pseudonym for non-mystery historicals set in sixteenth-century England of author Kathy Lynn Emerson. 'Kate' is writing a second novel in the Secrets of the Tudor Court series, tentatively titled "Between Two Queens" which is from the point of view of another real person, Anne Bassett, who was a maid of honor to five of Henry VIII's queens.
And finally HERE is Kate's website with related links regarding the book. There is also a page with a Who's Who in Tudor Women which is fun to dabble through.
I am looking forward to both of these books.