We are also given an insight into Jane as a very enthusiastic and somewhat dogmatic Protestant during a time of huge religious upheaval in 16th century England.ĭaughter of Frances Brandon, the sister of Henry VII, Lady Jane Grey had what can only be portrayed as a miserable childhood right from birth, when her parents were very disappointed that she was not a boy.

She has taken the story of the Nine Day Queen - Lady Jane Grey, and given us the details of her childhood, her relationship with her parents, her introduction to court, and then the machinations behind trying to put Jane on the throne following the death of Henry VIII's son, King Edward. Her honesty, intelligence and strength ofĬharacter carry the reader through all the vicious twists of Tudor power politics, to her nine-day reign and its unbearably poignant conclusion.Īlison Weir is the author of numerous non-fiction books, but Innocent Traitor is her first fiction book. As a great-niece of Henry VIII, and the cousin of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, she grew up to realise that she could never throw off the chains of her destiny. Jane's astonishing and essentially tragic story was played out during one of the most momentous periods of English history. Child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she was merely a pawn in a dynastic power game with the highest stakes, she lived a live in thrall to political machinations and lethal religious fervour. Lady Jane Grey was born into times of extreme danger. She has chosen as her subject the bravest, most sympathetic and wronged heroine of Tudor England, Lady Jane Grey.

Alison Weir, our pre-eminent popular historian, has now fulfilled a life's ambition to write historical fiction.

The innocent traitor