I found this fictionalised account of the life of Lady Jane Grey (who was forced into being Queen for 9 days in between King Edward and Queen {bloody} Mary) manipulated by parents, relatves, etc thoroughly readable and entirely credible given the almost incredible subject matter.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this in the staff offices of the council where I'd been helping out with a survey in the hope someone would pick it up.

Now on the CMK library bookcrossing shelves.

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Oops - picked this up a while ago at Milton Keynes Library. We read it last month in our reading group and are going to have a visit from the author Alison Weir on 3rd March. I can't wait to hear her talk about this book!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, as I thought that I wouldn’t like it. Right from the very beginning I was transported into Tudor times, and was intrigued to find out more about the life of Lady Jane Grey. She is a figure in history who I didn’t really know much about, and even though I knew how the story would end, I was still on the edge of my seat riveted, waiting to see how the end came about.

Hearing the voice of the four year old Lady Jane Grey sat at high table for the first time I must admit I was shocked! To be thrust into society at such a tender age and not know the simple etiquette of what to do if you had to use the bathroom made me feel so sorry for Lady Jane Grey. It struck me that the children in the story didn’t have the luxury of a childhood at all.

It was clear, even before Lady Jane Grey was born that her parents were very ambitiously-minded and very much interested in advancing their family by bloodlines. If they didn’t produce a son and heir, then they knew they would have to achieve it through a good marriage for their daughter, and had their sights set high; no less on the King himself. Lady Jane Grey was merely a pawn in their political game, and never really stood a chance. She was young and naïve and was basically led to the slaughter by her parents.

It struck me whilst I was reading that she was a Protestant martyr. As a Catholic I hadn’t really given it much thought that there was such a thing. I feel Lady Jane Grey was guided into it through her tutors. Who you are and who you meet heavily influences who you are and what you believe. Also, I think you do believe more strongly when you are younger, as you have less experience and knowledge of the world and so are more passionate about issues.

The main thing that comes across in this novel is that the author knows her stuff, as it is full of historical facts. It is a like a really interesting history lesson without all the boring bits. You are learning as you are reading without even realising it, as people from history come alive and are made real. Consequently, I feel this is a real way into history for those of us that don’t want to wade through the heavy non-fiction fact filled books. There is a sort of academic feel to it, but as there was no psychological depth to contend with, it made it a nice easy read. However, once or twice I had to keep looking back at the family tree at the front, and felt it might have helped if a few more people were identified here.

The style of having all these historical facts with words weaved in between where imagination can flow can be quite restrictive. The way that we hear from different people gives us different viewpoints, but there wasn’t a lot of differentiation between the characters. Perhaps this device doesn’t work very well. Overall, I thought it was an extremely sad and evocative story. I was impressed with how firm in her convictions Lady Jane Grey was. She was very astute for one so young and knew her faith would get her through. I respected her for that. It still brought a lump to my throat even though I knew what was going to happen in the end. I was disappointed by the words of the executioner at the end, as I wanted her words to be the last I heard. However, I then realised how clever it was really, as it jolted me back to reality at the end with the executioner’s commentary. It worked well.

This is a great book of historical fiction, unearthing the plotting, political, instability and dog eat dog world that was the Tudor times. Perhaps one for the ladies though, as Tudor domesticity isn’t really of great interest to males. (Well that’s what two of the three men in our reading group thought!)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Passing to a male bookcrosser who expressed an interest in it as he is hoping to attend the author talk by Alison Weir.

Rugby meet release

Taken from the meet. For my current historical fiction fest! I've always been fascinated by the story of Lady Jane Grey.