Innocent Traitor By Alison Weir
Weir has written a fictitious account based on letters and historical accounts of the short and harassed life of Lady Jane Grey, niece of Henry VIII. Covering her life as a toddler to the age of thirteen, Weir has portrayed a child who is bullied, ridiculed, and criticized unmercifully. Physical punishment and food deprivation are the norm for noncompliance with her parents demands. It is hard to imagine parents being so cruel to a child of royal blood; however, I have read some excerpts of Lady Jane's own letters and the only solace she finds for the relentless chastisement for imperfection is in her studies. Forced to be a key player in a plot to usurp the crown, she submits under duress to an unwanted marriage, then is thrust upon the thrown as queen after Edward's death. At every turn she is manipulated by power hungry parents and an entourage of various characters who lust for power of the throne. Her only champions are her beloved nursemaid and of all people, Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary is her reluctant executioner. Politics are politics and people have to be sacrificed even if they are only thirteen and unwilling pawns in their parents traitorous acts.
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