I am now a condemned traitor I am to die when I have hardly begun to liveHistorical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weirs enthralling debut novel breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy It is the story of Lady Jane Greythe Nine Days Queena fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth centuryThe child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyns beheading and the demise of Janes infamous great-uncle King Henry VIII With the premature passing of Janes adolescent cousin and Henrys successor King Edward VI comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm And though she has no ambitions to rule preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies she is forced to accept the crown and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue betrayal and tragedyAlison 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 Janes 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 legendAn impressive debut Weir shows skill at plotting and maintaining tension and she is clearly going to be a major player in the historical fiction gameThe IndependentAlison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians In her first work of fiction Weir manages her heroines voice brilliantly respecting the pasts distance while conjuring a dignified and fiercely modern spiritLondon Daily MailFrom the Hardcover edition.
