Summary:
Jane Grey was Queen of England for nine days before Mary Tudor mustered an army to depose her. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner's block and tragic martyrdom.
"Learn you to die" is the advice Jane leaves in a letter to her younger sister Katherine, who has no intention of dying. She plans to enjoy her beauty and fall in love, but Queen Mary, and then Queen Elizabeth will never let their heir marry or produce a Tudor son. When Katherine's pregnancy betrays her secret marriage, she faces imprisonment in the Tower, only yards from her sister's scaffold.
"Farewell, good sister" writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister, Mary. A beautiful Little Person disregarded by the court, Mary keeps family secrets, especially her own. What will happen when the last Tudor defies her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Queen Elizabeth?
My Thoughts:
To be quite honest, I never had a negative opinion toward Elizabeth until I read this book. It is actually quite sad that she knew nothing but fear that she would be betrayed.
As the book starts, one can clearly see that Jane never wanted to rule; she was quite literally dragged into it. And that became Jane's downfall.
Katherine does not want to rule either, she wants only to be married to someone she loves. She marries in secret, but her pregnancy starts to show and the queen sends her away to confinement, never to see her husband and second child again (she dies within a few years).
Mary also only wants to marry the man she loves. However, when she finally does in secret, she too is sent away to confinement, never to see her husband again (he dies before she is eventually freed).
You feel a lot of sympathy toward pretty much everyone except for the queens Mary and Elizabeth.
I definitely enjoyed reading this novel and learning about the three doomed sisters.
My Rating: 5 stars
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