Innocent Traitor

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RC: Does the history of Tudor England have any relevance to what is going on politically and culturally in England and America today? Evocative . . . a rich tapestry of a bygone age and a judicious assessment of her subject’s place within it.” But, of course, the arc of this work is the brief reign of Lade Jane Grey as Queen Jane. Her parents and important figures such as Northumberland maneuvered to make her Queen rather than allowing the Catholic Mary to gain the throne. They trusted that the English citizenry would reject Mary and that they could manipulate Jane as a figurehead to run England as they chose. The novel shows how Jane tried to be a Queen but found herself thwarted by those who would use her. Her miserable marriage to a Dudley did not help matters. After only a fortnight as Queen, forces loyal to Mary overthrew the lot of nobles who had plotted to make Jane Queen. Then, the slow denouement, as Mary slowly came to see that, for many reasons, she had to remove Jane from the scene—although she saw her as innocent. The very title of this work, "Innocent Traitor,” says a great deal. The novel ends with real emotional pop, as Jane prepared a simple speech to give before her death. Her dignity, compared with the whimpering of men much more guilty than she, provides a remarkable contrast (this isn’t a spoiler; if people don’t know what happened to Lady Jane Grey, they don’t know much about history!). Pare impossibile, ma nell'Inghilterra del '500 ci fu anche spazio per una regina-bambina e quella regina regnò nove giorni prima di essere condannata per altro tradimento e decapitata a colpi d'ascia su un ceppo. Ma come si è arrivati a tutto ciò? in my tormented reverie I hear voices, clamoring to be heard, all speaking at once. I know them all. They have all played a part in shaping my destiny."

Innocent Traitor - Wikipedia Innocent Traitor - Wikipedia

RC: It must have felt liberating to be able to do away with footnotes for once. But fiction, especially historical fiction, has its own constraints, and I wonder if you found yourself bumping up against them.

The story starts with her birth in 1537. The daughter of Lady Frances Brandon and Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, Jane is seen as a burden by her parents, both of whom resent her for being a girl instead of a boy, and is regularly beaten by her mother. ...

Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir - Google Books Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir - Google Books

So what went wrong? Alison Weir published ten books of historical non-fiction before writing this, her first book of fiction. She knows the topic and she says in her author’s note, “Most of the characters in this novel really existed, and most of the events actually happened. However, where the evidence is scanty or missing, I have used my imagination.” She then clarifies where in the books she has done this. That is exactly the kind of historical fiction I look for. Still, this did not work for me. The author also says she tried to penetrate the minds of her characters, and that is where the problem lies, at least for me. I kept thinking, this character would not do that, she would not say that! The author did not get me inside the head of Lady Jane Grey. I felt that she did exactly what she was told…..until the day she became Queen. Her thoughts and actions were to me unbelievable. Neither could I comprehend the faith she had. Everyone else around her was motivated by personal gain, her parents in particular. I could not believe that her mother came to regret her own behavior. No, I could not empathize with the characters because the author did not succeed in making me see through their eyes. Neither did I find genuine the words the author put in the characters’ mouths. They were too modern. In addition, there was absolutely no humor in this book! There are, I know, a few fussy writers who insist on the facts and the gaps in availability of historical data to be left as empty and dark as a question mark. However, this book, does offer a glow in that abyss. John Man speculates fairly well when he has to deal with gaps in history. His fillers, however, are more based on reason and logic. He does wonderful justice too – makes for interesting reading. Yet, it is all in the third person. RC: Yet despite the patriarchal culture, strong women could and did emerge, women like Jane and her cousin, Elizabeth. What accounts for that, do you think?

Reader’s Circle: After ten enormously popular and critically acclaimed nonfiction books, what inspired you to make the jump to fiction with Innocent Traitor? Jane is openly displeased with the man chosen to be her husband. On Edward's death, Northumberland and Henry Grey go forward with their plan and put Jane on the throne, proclaiming her to be the rightful heir to the throne.

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir | Waterstones Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir | Waterstones

of the blood. . .I think i might have mentioned once or twice that i am a tudorphile. As such, i have read (and own) many of Alison Weir’s excellent histories. So i was rather excited to hear of her debut novel Innocent Traitor (which may sound like a Nora Roberts title but is actually the story of the rather tragic nine day reign of Lady Jane Grey). The story is told from multiple points of view from various members of the Tudor court (the prologue, told from Jane's point of view, waiting in the Tower of London for her pardon from Queen Mary tells how Alison Weir: I’ve been writing historical novels for fun since the 1960s, and this one was no exception. I first wrote it eight years ago, while I was researching Eleanor of Aquitaine. It was then called Light After the Darkness, and was more “faction” than fiction. Historical novels weren’t selling very well at that time, so I just put the manuscript away when I finished it. I rewrote the whole thing a couple of years ago and was delighted when it was accepted for publication. As a child, Jane is treated poorly by her parents, although her father shows some interest in her. She is an engaging child, with a curious mind. She enjoys learning—from languages to music to the classics. The book’s treatment of her makes her into a little woman when she was probably too young to think in the manner attributable to her. Still, in that era, childhood as we know it did not exist. One of the few joys in Jane's short life was the two years which she spent as a lady in waiting to Queen Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife. Upon Katherine's death in 1548, Jane was unceremoniously and unwillingly returned to her family home. It was then that Jane met tutor to Elizabeth I, Roger Ascham. Ascham noted Jane's complaint about her parents: RC: What makes the Tudor period of English history so perennially fascinating to you and to so many readers?I enjoyed this book, sad and flawed as it was. I knew the bare outline of the life of Lady Jane Grey, although, in spite of having read some version or other of Foxe's Book of Martyrs several times in my childhood, had forgotten that she is considered a martyr by the Anglican Church. It was therefore interesting to read a more detailed version of her story. Yes, I know the account is fictional but with such a reknowned historian writing we can be fairly certain that the events, if not the motives for them, are fairly accurately recounted. These parents were down right horrible and my heart went out for Jane as well as the other two girls. Alison Weir uses her unmatched skills as a historian to enliven the many dynamic characters of this majestic drama. Along with Lady Jane Grey, Weir vividly renders her devious parents; her much-loved nanny; the benevolent Queen Katherine Parr; Jane’s ambitious cousins; the Catholic “Bloody” Mary, who will stop at nothing to seize the throne; and the protestant and future queen Elizabeth. Readers venture inside royal drawing rooms and bedchambers to witness the power-grabbing that swirls around Lady Jane Grey from the day of her birth to her unbearably poignant death. Innocent Traitor paints a complete and compelling portrait of this captivating young woman, a faithful servant of God whose short reign and brief life would make her a legend. Extraordinary . . . exhilarating in its color, ambition, and human warmth. The author exhibits a breathtaking grasp of the physical and cultural context of Queen Eleanor’s life.”

Innocent Traitor - Penguin Books UK Innocent Traitor - Penguin Books UK

Jane grows up close to her nurse, Mrs. Ellen and is highly educated, to the standards of a princess. After Henry VIII's death and Catherine Parr's marriage to Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Jane goes to live with the former queen and her husband to further her education while her elders plot her marriage to Edward VI of England.Fiction Book Review: Innocent Traitor". Publishers Weekly. 2 October 2006. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019 . Retrieved 19 February 2019. RC: In your author’s note, you write: “Some parts of the book may seem far-fetched: they are the parts most likely to be based on fact.” This bears out the old adage of truth being stranger than fiction. Were there facts that you felt you had to leave out because they would have seemed too farfetched?