This article originally appeared in British
Weekly.
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Innocent Traitor…The Nine Days Queen, Lady Jane
Grey SANTA MONICA, CA (British Weekly) 01/02/08 - Through the voices of multiple narrators, author Alison Weir weaves a tight web of British royal intrigue. Lady Jane Grey is caught in the middle of her parents’ and regent Northumberland’s ambitions to rule England. The boy-king Edward VI would be remembered in Mark Twain's novel, The Prince and the Pauper, in which the young Edward VI and a penniless boy of identical appearance replace each other. As the real 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying of either disease or arsenic poisoning, John Dudley, First Duke of Northumberland and regent to Edward, schemes to rule the country. |
Weir pulls you in with the dept of her descriptions and you feel for the lonely young girl who ultimately loses her life. Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554), a grand-niece of Henry VIII, is a staunch Protestant. Despite being considered a bastard, the legitimate heir to the throne is staunch Catholic Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. A holy war is about to begin.
Alison Weir makes her historical fiction debut with Innocent Traitor. Weir said "The process filled me with a heady sense of freedom." Weir wrote the best-selling historical book The Six Wives of Henry VIII and is known for her ten works of history about British royalty. "As a non-fiction author, I write ‘popular’ history," says Weir. "History is not the sole preserve of academics, although I have the utmost respect for those historians who undertake new research and contribute something new to our knowledge. History belongs to us all. And, it can be accessed by us all. And if writing it in a way that is accessible and entertaining, as well as conscientiously researched, can be described as popular, then yes, I’m a popular historian, and am happy to be one."
In this fictional novel about Lady Jane Grey, Alison Weir takes the same care and amount of research that goes into her historical books. Innocent Traitor explores the life of one of the most intelligent and educated women in Europe, her nine-day reign as queen, and her execution by the order of Bloody Mary.
Innocent Traitor A novel of Lady Jane Grey, Trade Paperback 419 pages. Publisher: Ballantine Books (November 6, 2007). Language: English. ISBN- 978-0-345-49534-1