The King's Achievement by Robert Hugh Benson is set in Tudor England during the reign of Henry VIII, a time of religious upheaval and reform. Book I introduces the dissolution of the monasteries, portraying the devastating effects of the Crown’s growing power over the Church. Monastic life, once a refuge of spiritual devotion, faces suppression as convents and abbeys are dissolved. The novel explores the tension between Catholicism and Protestantism, with characters torn between religious loyalty and political allegiance. Spiritual conflict and moral struggles run deep, as the characters must choose between resistance to authority or surrender to the forces of reform. Benson skillfully captures the personal and societal turmoil of the Reformation, exploring themes of faith, corruption, and the shifting balance of power. As the Crown exerts its influence, the characters wrestle with their identities and beliefs, caught between family ties, religious resistance, and the changing world around them.
Robert Hugh Benson was an English Catholic priest and author who lived from 18 November 1871 to 19 October 1914. He began his ministry as an Anglican priest before being welcomed and ordained in the Catholic Church in 1903. He also wrote a lot of fiction, including Come Rack! Come to Rope! and the well-known dystopian novel Lord of the World. His works include current fiction, children's stories, plays, apologetics, devotional writings, and historical, horror, and science fiction. In parallel with rising through the ranks to serve as a Chamberlain to Pope Pius X in 1911 and earning the title of Monsignor before passing away a few years later, he continued his writing career. Benson, the younger brother of E. F., A. C., and Margaret Benson, was the youngest child of Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and his wife, Mary. Robert Hugh Benson attended Eton College for his education before attending Trinity College in Cambridge from 1890 to 1893 to study classics and religion. Benson's father, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, gave him his ordination as a priest in the Church of England in 1895.
