Innocent Traitor

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Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir’s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. The child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyn’s beheading and the demise of Jane’s infamous great-uncle, King Henry VIII. For those unfamiliar with British royal history, fifteen-year-old Lady Jane was named queen of England for nine days in July 1553. I am listening to the audio version, which I got because it features three of my favorite readers (Davina Porter, Jill Tanner, and Bianca Amato), and the reading is excellent, but possibly not worth the trouble for a dull and unbelievable book.

Innocent Traitor - Penguin Random House Innocent Traitor - Penguin Random House

Lady Jane had no wish to be appointed queen, but finally accepted it to prevent Mary, a devout Catholic, from taking the throne. Our features are original articles from our print magazines (these will say where they were originally published) or original articles commissioned for this site. As a historian, it was vital for me to make the novel as factually accurate as possible, and I used everything that could be inferred from historical sources to make my characters come alive. Jane was, of course Edward's cousin and had been named his successor to the throne, apparently after much 'handling' by the Duke. In this novel the King has passed away and the son from Queen Jane Seymour, Prince Edward becomes King, however Edward is a sickly boy and doesnt live past fifteen and never fathers an heir.It is in this turmoil that our heroine the Lady Jane Grey is forced through the manipulations of her father and the Duke of Northumberland to take the crown and rule England.

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir | Waterstones Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir | Waterstones

Weir manages her heroine’s voice brilliantly, respecting the past’s distance while conjuring a dignified and fiercely modern spirit. Weir also includes the nonsense about the Duke of Northumberland poisoning Edward VI and then smothering a lookalike and switching the bodies so that the “king’s corpse” would have no evidence of foul play. This book tells the life of "The Nine Day Queen" through various characters' eyes, from Lady Jane to Queen Mary. Each section really does need the speaker's name out at the top otherwise the reader would only know who is speaking by the actions the character does. It's written from several different perspectives that tend to blend together because none of the characters have unique voices.

This could be explained by the education that woman received, but some difference in tone would be nice. I knew the bare outline of the life of Lady Jane Grey, although, in spite of having read some version or other of Foxe's Book of Martyrs several times in my childhood, had forgotten that she is considered a martyr by the Anglican Church. Personally, interest in the life of Lady Jane Grey was kindled because of a painting that hangs in the National Gallery in London – The Execution of Jane Grey, Paul Delarouche.

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir | Goodreads Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir | Goodreads

After only a fortnight as Queen, forces loyal to Mary overthrew the lot of nobles who had plotted to make Jane Queen. In un mondo governato da adulti, ma soprattutto da uomini, le donne, ancora meglio se molto giovani, diventano merce di scambio per un buon matrimonio. AW: For me, and I suspect for many other people, the Tudor period is perennially fascinating because of its dramatic events and outstanding personalities, and also because it’s the first period in English history for which we have primary sources that reveal intimate and insightful details of the public and private lives of prominent figures. Jane was the only member of the royal House who was suitable for his purpose, so he married her to his son, and thus bound her to obedience to her husband, who would be Northumberland’s tool.La curiosità del lettore, viene soddisfatta pienamente in queste pagine, caratterizzando bene i personaggi, con un enorme lavoro storico di approfondimento. She was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII (her grandmother was Mary Tudor, Queen of France and sister to Henry VIII) and a first cousin of Edward VI. It was indeed fortuitous that my artist friend picks up the book and asks how come I missed noticing this book.

Innocent Traitor - Wikipedia Innocent Traitor - Wikipedia

After the Reformation equivalent to a Dickensian childhood, she became the pawn of her parents and the Duke of Northumberland, was given in marriage to an abusive husband, maneuvered into a crown she didn’t want, lost it, was abandoned by everyone, thrown into prison and finally—thanks to her father’s second treachery against the Crown—Jane received the verdict of treason and was executed. She is the author of numerous works of history and historical fiction, specialising in the medieval and Tudor periods.okay just added a new author to my lists of favorites, Alison Weir now joins Phillippa Gregory and Margaret George as some of my favorite historical fiction authors. King Henry VIII meanwhile, at the time the future Edward VI was born, was 46 years old, on his third marriage after almost 30 years of married life, and had only two surviving acknowledged but illegitimated daughters, and it was important to him to have a son because it was unprecedented for a woman to be accepted as ruler of England in her own right and the young Tudor dynasty could still be overthrown. The author discusses the choices that she made in writing portions of the book where there is uncertainty in the historical record or where she took a certain degree of creative license. This taught me so much more about the tragic life of Lady Jane Grey and the kind of strong and fierce person she was.