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Informative,
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Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
by Alison Weir

Published: 2007-11-06
Paperback : 407 pages
4 members reading this now
6 clubs reading this now
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Recommended to book clubs by 2 of 2 members
I am now a condemned traitor . . . I am to die when I have hardly begun to live.

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. It is the story ...
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Introduction

I am now a condemned traitor . . . I am to die when I have hardly begun to live.

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. It is the story of Lady Jane Grey–“the Nine Days’ Queen”–a fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth century.

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. With the premature passing of Jane’s adolescent cousin, and Henry’s successor, King Edward VI, comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor.

Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent, Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm. And though she has no ambitions to rule, preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies, she is forced to accept the crown, and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal, and tragedy.

Alison Weir uses her unmatched skills as a historian to enliven the many dynamic characters of this majestic drama. Along with Lady Jane Grey, Weir vividly renders her devious parents; her much-loved nanny; the benevolent Queen Katherine Parr; Jane’s ambitious cousins; the Catholic “Bloody” Mary, who will stop at nothing to seize the throne; and the protestant and future queen Elizabeth. Readers venture inside royal drawing rooms and bedchambers to witness the power-grabbing that swirls around Lady Jane Grey from the day of her birth to her unbearably poignant death. Innocent Traitor paints a complete and compelling portrait of this captivating young woman, a faithful servant of God whose short reign and brief life would make her a legend.

“An impressive debut. Weir shows skill at plotting and maintaining tension, and she is clearly going to be a major player in the . . . historical fiction game.”
–The Independent

“Alison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians. In her first work of fiction . . . Weir manages her heroine’s voice brilliantly, respecting the past’s distance while conjuring a dignified and fiercely modern spirit.”
–London Daily Mail


From the Hardcover edition.

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by sandy b. (see profile) 01/31/20

 
  "Interesting Account"by Karen C. (see profile) 05/16/09

Some truth, some fiction makes for a good story. Ties in well with "The Tudors" on Showtime.

 
  "Innocent Traitor"by Ann P. (see profile) 05/06/09

Our Book Club enjoyed talking about Innocent Traitor. Although it wasn't a title that some of us would have picked up on our own, and since it's based on fact, I was concerned that we wouldn't find much... (read more)

 
  "Good historic fiction from a well known author, good research."by Jan M. (see profile) 04/16/09

At one time I considered Alison Weir to be the "be all" of historic fiction. However, I think I have become less enthusiastic since becoming a reader of Anne Easter Smith's novels. Lady Jane Grey is... (read more)

 
  "Innocent Traitor"by Tory T. (see profile) 01/28/08

Not bad, gives you yet another perspective of King Henry's life. Lady Jane is rarely talked about even though she was the "Nine Days Queen" prior to Mary I and after Edwards Death.

A lit

... (read more)

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