Innocent Traitor

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Alison Weir, though I haven't read nearly as many of her books as I would have liked to.

I actually started reading this book last year, and didn't finish it before I had to return it to the library. This time, I started again from the beginning & finished in just a few days.

This is the story of Lady Jane Grey, the very young, naive queen of just 9 days. Forced to live her entire life under the rule of manulative, even abusive, parents, she ended up marrying a man she didn't love (or even like) and worse yet, convinced to become Queen of England.

The book is told in multiple voices (a story telling device I do not like). Most of the book, this is fine, but I had issues in the beginning, with Jane's voice being very adult, even when she was only a few years old. Yes, she was supposedly very mature as a child, but it was hard to like her as a child when she spoke with such an adult voice.

The book is pretty factual - there are a few interesting speculations in the book that Weir concludes, but for the most part, this is pretty true historical fiction & Weir takes on a new genre well (this is her first historical fiction novel).

Jane's story is especially compelling at the end - even though I know how her tragic tale will end, you still hope that Queen Mary will pardon her on the same.

(library)
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