Innocent Traitor

October 2, 2006
Popular biographer Weir (Eleanor of Aquitaine
, etc.) makes her historical fiction debut with this coming-of-age novel set in the time of Henry VIII. Weir's heroine is Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554), whose ascension to the English throne was briefly and unluckily promoted by opponents of Henry's Catholic heir, Mary. As Weir tells it, Jane's parents, the Marquess and Marchioness of Dorset, groom her from infancy to be the perfect consort for Henry's son, Prince Edward, entrusting their daughter to a nurse's care while they attend to affairs at court. Jane relishes lessons in music, theology, philosophy and literature, but struggles to master courtly manners as her mother demands. Not even the beheadings of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard deter parental ambition. When Edward dies, Lord and Lady Dorset maneuver the throne for their 16-year-old daughter, risking her life as well as increased violence between Protestants and Catholics. Using multiple narrators, Weir tries to weave a conspiratorial web with Jane caught at the center, but the ever-changing perspectives prove unwieldy: Jane speaking as a four-year-old with a modern historian's vocabulary, for example, just doesn't ring true. But Weir proves herself deft as ever describing Tudor food, manners, clothing, pastimes (including hunting and jousting) and marital politics.

Starred review from December 1, 2006
This first novel by British historian Weir ("The Life of Elizabeth I"), who addresses the life of Lady Jane Grey, is a treat for fans of meaty historical fiction. Well written and researched, it succeeds as a thoroughly involving novel by bringing a disparate, sympathetic group of characters to life. Lady Jane, known to history as the Nine Days Queen, is a tragic and appealing figure. Abused by her parents, this talented and intelligent girl was bullied into a hateful marriage and pushed into accepting the Crown after the death of King Edward VI. Edward's older sister, Princess Mary (later known as Bloody Mary, and for good reason), rightfully claimed the Crown as her own, and Jane was sent to the Tower of London and eventually executed. Weir tells the story of Jane's short life from multiple viewpoints, which might initially confuse readers unfamiliar with the history, but this is a small fault in an otherwise entertaining and moving novel. Sure to be popular with those who enjoy the works of Philippa Gregory ("The Other Boleyn Girl"), this London "Times" best seller is highly recommended for all public libraries.Elizabeth M. Mellett, P.L. of Brookline, MA

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2007
Adult/High School-Weir ventures into fiction with this story. In the prologue, Jane is stunned that her trial is over and that she has been convicted of treason, a capital offense. The novel then begins with her birth, a sore disappointment to her ambitious parents who desperately yearned for a son. Various narrators describe the events and fill in the historical background in alternating chapters. Jane is a bright and quick child, but does not enjoy some of the robust activities, such as hunting, associated with her station in society (her mother is the niece of King Henry VIII). For teens, Jane's will be the most compelling voice as she recounts the callousness of her mother, especially compared to the love and support from her nurse, Mrs. Ellen; the idyllic time she spends with the widowed Queen Katherine Parr while plans are made for Jane to marry the young King Edward; then her unsatisfying marriage to Guildford and its brutal consummation. Jane, who has adopted the Protestant faith, is pushed into the line of succession (since Henry VIII was her great-uncle) by those who fear England's return to Catholicism. Readers who enjoyed Philippa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2002) or "The Constant Princess" (2005, both Touchstone) will be drawn to Jane's quiet strength of character as she is used by her parents for their advancement and is condemned to pay the ultimate price."Teri Titus, San Mateo County Library, CA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2006
The title of this complex yet completely absorbing novel reflects the author's point of view as she reconstructs the life of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. That this is popular historian Weir's first novel is publishing news (see the adjacent Story behind the Story). Lady Jane Grey was a great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, and the term " political pawn" could have been invented for her. In alternating voices, each distinctively authentic, Weir lets Lady Jane and other individuals involved in her life and fate tell their sides of the story, and what a story it is. King Henry, it will be remembered, had succession problems: namely, until his marriage to his third wife, he had no male heir. Added to that was the age's seemingly irresolvable conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Therein lay the trouble for the teenage Lady Jane. She was thrust by her power-hungry and caustically Protestant parents into a plot to place her on the throne upon the death of the little king Edward VI, the late king Henry's Protestant son, instead of the legal heiress, the Catholic princess Mary. Mary won the day and throne, and Lady Jane went to the block. Weir finds Jane an intelligent individual, a thinker in her own right; but, tragically, given the times and the power available to the "grown-ups" around her, she ultimately could not resist the political currents swirling over her. A brilliantly vivid and psychologically astute novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)