Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey

I think there are a lot of us that find the story of Lady Jane Grey, the 16 year-old girl who was Queen of England for nine short days; only to be tried as a traitor and beheaded by Queen Mary so she (Mary) could marry Prince Philip of Spain - intriguing and incredibly sad.I was of the generation that saw the movie about Lady Jane with Helena Bonham Carter and cried at the end of the movie, but relieved to know that at least she found true love with her arranged marriage to Guildford Dudley before she died. Nothing could have been further from the truth and is an excellent example of Hollywood altering historical facts to make a motion picture.Lady Jane was an incredibly intelligent girl who liked nothing more than to read or focus on her studies. Her parents didn’t understand her and her mother, in particular, was more often than not, quick with a beating, whipping, or withholding meals until her “willful” child obeyed. Although it was historically appropriate for parents to treat their children with (what to our modern eyes) excessive and cruel punishments, even the contemporaries of Jane Grey felt her parents were unduly harsh with her.Lady Jane grew up knowing she was the living proof that her mother failed in producing a son and heir for her husband. But she couldn’t understand why her cold and heartless mother could lavish attention on the second daughter, Katherine, and spare none for her. In a time when people born with birth defects were either left to die or secluded somewhere out of sight, the third daughter, Mary, a hunchback, was given the same education (very extraordinary in those times) as her sisters (educating women was still frowned upon). So Jane saw that her parents were even tolerant of her youngest sister where they had zero tolerance for her. Of her parents, she is recorded as saying, “when I am in the presence either of father or mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it as it were in such weight, measure and number, even so perfectly as God made the world; or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea presently sometimes with pinches, nips and bobs and other ways (which I will not name for the honour I bear them) ... that I think myself in hell.”The only true happiness she knew was when she was sent to be one of Catherine Parr’s ladies. She found a kind and loving mother-figure in Catherine and relished her time with the fortunate last wife of King Henry the Eighth. This happiness was cut short when Catherine died and, although she was retained in the household by Thomas Seymour (who was working with Jane’s parents to be proposed as a bride for Edward; Henry the 8th’s son), but was eventually retrieved by her parents when it was secretly made known that Edward was dieing.Jane was then embroiled in a fantastic scheme to put her on the throne and have Princess Elizabeth and Princess Mary passed over after Edward’s impending death. Everything was done without her consent and she was a pawn in the hands of the people who should have protected her. She was married against her wishes (only capitulating after severe beatings) to the spoiled, childish Guildford Dudley; who threw tantrums and ran to his mother. Such was her disgust with this child-man, that when he begged to see her before his death, she refused.This story is Alison Weir’s venture into Fiction. The story is told in the first-person narrative from different viewpoints; her mother, her teachers, herself, and gives us insight into what was possibly going on in the heads (and hearts) of those involved at the time. The historical material is all incredibly true and due to Ms. Weir’s incredible research, you are given probably what is the closest thing we have to the inner thoughts and feelings of the people involved.This was a book that I had difficulty putting down once I started. It fed my love of historical non-fiction as well as historical fiction. I highly recommend this book!

I was both thrilled and slightly apprehensive when I heard that Alison Weir was publishing her first novel. I was thrilled because she has long been one of my favorite historical writers (especially when it comes to the Tudor era) and her books have always been extremely readable, leading me to think she might be a good fiction writer. I was also thrilled because of the subject matter, Lady Jane Grey, the Nine day Queen of England who is easily one of the most interesting and tragic figures of the Tudor age; yet very few fictional books have been written about her. I was apprehensive because I theorized (correctly it turned out) that as a writer who has previously only published non-fiction it seemed that Ms. Weir might have a tendency to be dry and not emotionally expressive in her fictional writing.Nonetheless for a first novel this a very good book, packed with historical detail (you'd expect nothing less from this author) and various first person viewpoints (mostly female) including: Jane Grey, Frances Brandon (her mother) Mrs. Ellen (her nurse), Queen Catherine Parr, Mary Tudor and John Dudley the Duke of Northumberland. Each person has a very distinctive voice and so the story varies from being told from a cynical viewpoint to a religious one, from a loving nurse to a harsh ambitious parent.You get a great feel in this book for Jane's life as the unwanted daughter of highly ambitious parent's desperate for a son who compromised by trying their whole lives to marry her off to the boy King Edward. It didn't matter that they made her miserable in their quest to make her a perfect royal bride. And then of course King Edward dies and John Dudley, desperate for power to stay in his hands as he enjoyed it as president of the King's council, changes the succession so Jane (who's maternal grandmother was Henry's little sister) is heir and marries Dudley's youngest son. You know of course, what happens next. Jane is queen for nine days, Mary escapes the planned capture and recaptures her throne without a battle, and eventually Jane is beheaded for her crime.What's really interesting about this book isn't the history (well it wasn't for me, but I already knew it all) it's the underlying religious debate. In the book the country goes from being semi-catholic after Henry VIII cut off from Rome (but before they were Protestant) to Protestant, to having a Catholic queen and all the time religious fanatics are in charge. King Edward was one, for the Protestants, as was Jane. In fact if someone met Jane Grey today I suspect she would be intolerable because of her "I have the true religion and yours is false" belief system. There was no tolerance back then.All in all this is a good book, the history is great, the background culture put in place to understand the history was great and the voices were all very distinct. But like I said earlier-there is a lack of emotion, certain dryness in this book. In spite of the highly charged emotional settings and happenings in this book I had a hard time connecting with the characters.Four stars. And I do hope Ms. Weir writes more novels in the future-unlike other historical fiction authors you can count on the facts in her books being correct.

I just finished this book last night. I tend to reread books often and this one is definitely staying in the rotation.Initially, starting a new book is usually a chore for me and I have to get past all the exposition to get to the interesting parts. This book is similar in that way. However after the first few chapters it really begins to hit its stride and it's hard to put down. Perhaps they should have begun the story when Jane was in the service of Katherine Parr and when she was being considered as a bride for King Edward. That's when things get much more interesting.Spoiler alert: The end is emotional. You feel the main character's dread. You feel infuriated by Mary's weak and self-serving decision, and infuriated by all the scheming little snakes who plotted everything leading to Jane's death. And infuriated that everyone just stands by and lets a tyrant dictate the death of an innocent child and just goes along with it, when they could all just say "no, enough." Everyone knows it's wrong, including Mary herself, but they all go along with it for their own selfish interests.

I've only just finished this book. I got about a third of the way through it & then started reading it again this morning while lying on the bed... & that's where I stayed for the entire day as I couldn't put it down! I haven't even washed up today & my sole effort went into feeding my cats...! (I get my priorities right ,,,=^-.-^=,,, :) ) The earlier part of the book took a bit of getting into but it picked up a lot after this & I was pretty much rivetted by it. Prior to reading this I had watched the film LadyJane & I felt I wanted to know the story in more detail. The first part of the film was fine & quite entertaining as it focused mainly on Jane's relationship & marriage to Guildford Dudley, played by Helena Bonham Carter & Carey Elwes & they seemed to be having a lot fun in their marriage. He, in particular, was hilarious at one point in the film, (never mind his stunning good looks) but having read the book their relationship on flim bears no resemblance to what it was like in reality as they pretty much hated each other on sight. But it's a very sad story for both of them, because they were victims of political, family machinations, all pretty much self serving which resulted in disaster for them. They were only 16 years old, just kids really & they should never have been forced into such an alliance which was something neither of them really wanted & which they tried very hard to resist. But they were both pretty unlucky with their parents who cared nothing for their happiness & wellbeing & only wanted the power it would bring them. I found the last few pages really heartbreaking & I confess it reduced me to tears. Because, although it read like a really good novel, it was always painfully obvious that this was a life & death situation & something that really happened & it just beggars belief that people can be so selfish & self serving that they were willing to put their own children's life so much at risk that it could result in sending them to the block! What kind of parent does this to their own children. Oh, I forget, places like Iraq & Afghanistan as they are pretty much just as bad & not so very long ago a father helped other people stone his own daughter to death for the crime of wanting to be with the man she loved & wanted to marry. She was only 19 & that upset me a lot. Thank God we have moved on somewhat in the UK & I thank God pretty often really that I had the good fortune to be born in Wales, the Land of Song. The worse we do to our kids here is to cajole them into them into a singalong now & again...

I read this book some time ago and wanted to read it again. The story is told from many perspectives which gives you an insight into what drives many of the characters. Lady Jane Grey was a pawn in a deadly political game. She was well educated and like her cousin Princess Elizabeth (Elizabeth I) she had the Tudor red hair and she knew her own mind. Born into a time of religious intrigues between Protestant and Catholics she knew how important it was to hide her true feelings about her Protestant faith for fear of being branded a heretic.She was made Queen in July 1553 and held the title for only nine days when Princess Mary was crowned Queen.Queen Mary wanted to let Jane live but the Spanish said she would be a focal point for further uprisings and a threat to Mary's life,Lady Jane Grey was beheaded on Tower Green on the 12th of February 1554. She was 16 years old.

Never have I read such a sad tale. A child used and abused by those who should have loved her most. Her bravery, as described, was overwhelmingly sad and the closing chapters brought tears to my eyes and the futile hope - considering history had already documented the outcome - that reprieve would come.Anyone with an interest in the Tudor Reign should read this to understand how even parents would willingly pawn their own in pursuit of power and prestige.

Oh dear...I wanted to like this because Alison Weir is a fine writer...in her own field. But did I read the same book as all these rave reviews?Yes, this is well researched and yes,it is a quick read ( albeit the pages turned in boredom by, yes, the end when it should have been gripping but wasn't, I was ready for her head to go) and so I give it 3 stars. But for this pedigree of writer with all the editorial backing she has, well, if you can't get 4 there is something wrong. What were her editors thinking of?What's wrong is the 'oh, we can all do fiction' style of writing. There are simply too many points of view to engage. Sadly, I began to laugh at the sad end when even the axeman gets his own POV...please. And worst of all, every single POV is in the 'oh so easy' first person and 5 year old girl, hoary 50 year old man, middle aged women, each and every one sounds EXACTLY the same. EXACTLy. And the bounds of reality are stretched by a 5 year old who thinks like an adult and by a mother who was wicked all the book through and suddenly gets niceness.This writer can do better. If she'd stuck to two POVs at most and altered the first person this would be a good book - not a mediocre one. SAD.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time! I have never read Alison Weir's work before but will definitely do so in the future, having read this debut novel. It was extremely well written and you could tell that it was written by a historian and not just a novelist. I learnt so much about the period and loved the little nuggets of information dropped in, like how Somerset House came into being. I disagree with reviewers who say Lady Jane was an unsympathetic character, how can you say this? She was portrayed as a kind, intelligent and courageous woman and I ended the book, thinking she is someone I would love to have met. If I have one slight quibble, it would be I would have preferred a longer author's note at the end. Throughout the book, I was intrigued which bits were fact and which were fiction and it would have been interesting to have a few more details about this. But overall, an excellent novel, I'll be looking out for Weir's next novel.