![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Many works of fiction and a particular movie have portrayed Jane's parents as cruel and heartless, the Northumberlands as grasping, devious, power hungry. We are shown the period through the eyes and voices of two women close to the throne: Frances Grey, neice of Henry VIII, wife of Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset and later Duke of Suffolk (by right of Frances) and mother of the Lady Jane, known to us as "The Nine Days' Queen," in part to the amendment to Edward VI's will or "devise" that disinherited Edward's sisters Mary and Elizabeth (but briefly)that made her Queen of England after Edward's death in 1553 at the age of 16 and Jane Dudley, wife of John Dudley, earl of Warwick and duke of Northumberland who ruled England after the death of Edward's uncle the Protector Somerset, and the mother of Guilford Dudley, Jane Grey's husband. Higginbotham relies on history, extant letters and documents to tell the story of a kingdom at the edge of destruction while balancing toward the modern era. ![]() Finally, historical fiction centered on the reign of Edward VI, the political and religious upheaval, the successsion crisis that is balanced and enjoyable to read. ![]()
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