The Tudor period is one that holds a fascination for many, revelling as it did in its opulence, and being a period of great turbulence. Alison Weir is one of our current leading popular historians on the period, having published several factual works on the age. This is her first foray into Philippa Gregory territory (who's‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ currently being adapted for the big screen, starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson).It is the story of Lady Jane Grey, a figure who has captured many a young school-girls imagination, told from the viewpoint of many involved in the action. Despite the outcome being known from the beginning, there is a fair amount of tension, as we see Jane being coerced into a role she has no wish to play, and then watch as she is abandoned to her fate. This is no swash-buckling Elizabethan adventure, there is little action involved, but is a more personal look at how it is easy to be caught up in the ambitions of others, and if we do not have the courage to stand up for our convictions, then we risk being swept away in their hubris.
Accessible and engaging, the style is easily followed, not oppressive in its detail, but richly described nonetheless. The characterisation is perhaps a little harsh, Jane’s mother in particular receiving very little sympathy for what must have been a trial, providing no male heirs in a time when this was a women’s main role. The sweet but fiercely intelligent Jane of the beginning of the novel actually becomes less attractive as the story goes on, as she hardens in her religious views, and shows no empathy for her husband, another pawn in a parent’s plan. The book works very well when it keeps within its limits, but there is the odd occasion where the realms of believability are stretched too far, in particular the disposing of Edward VI’s body, and another being replaced in its stead. Not as informative as others, ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ in particular, it is nonetheless a happy, if slight, read.
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