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In the second novel from Ella March Chase, we meet sixteen-year-old Jane Grey, a quiet and obedient young lady destined to become the shortest reigning English monarch. Her beautiful middle sister Katherine Grey charms all the right people--until loyalties shift. And finally Lady Mary Grey, a dwarf with a twisted spine whose goal is simply to protect people she loves--but at a terrible cost.
In an age in which begetting sons was all that mattered and queens rose and fell on the sex of their child, these three girls with royal Tudor blood lived under the dangerous whims of parents with a passion for gambling. The stakes they would wager: their daughters' lives against rampant ambition.
In an age in which begetting sons was all that mattered and queens rose and fell on the sex of their child, these three girls with royal Tudor blood lived under the dangerous whims of parents with a passion for gambling. The stakes they would wager: their daughters' lives against rampant ambition.
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14 reviews
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Unrealistic Dialogue, Historically Inaccurate, Cliche Storyline
31 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Katherine Grey is one of my favorite characters in history, and therefore I have done a lot of research about her life and her role in the Elizabethan succession ordeal of 1558-1568. I really, really wanted to like this book. However, within the first few pages I knew that it was not to be. I understand that fiction writers are allowed to take liberties with historical facts, but I felt that the author's mistakes were just plain lazy.
On page 35 the character of Lady Jane Grey tells her sister the story of the rumored murder of Jeanne of Navarre by Catherine de' Medici by a pair of poisoned gloves. However, the death of Jeanne of Navarre would not take place until June of 1572. Also, the story says that Katherine was buried in Cockfield Hall Chapel before later being reinterred in Salisbury Cathedral. However, Katherine was actually buried in Yoxford at St. Peter's Church.
The dialogue in the book is flat, and at times just plain impossible. One example of this is when Henry Grey is loudly commenting on how his daughter (Katherine) is a lot like him because she is so excited to consummate her marriage: (page 34) ..."You hear this beauty, everyone? Of the three, Katherine is most my daughter. Hot-blooded and ripe for her husband. Lord Herbert is a fortunate man to have such an eager bride...she is worth waiting for, my lad. It is only the final act you are forbidden. There is much you can amuse yourselves with until then." Clearly the author does not understand the reason why the families were not allowing the couples to consummate their marriages or she would know any impropriety would be a marital contract and stop an annulment if one was needed in the future. Also, in a world of religious protocol, is it really likely that Katherine's father would be announcing his daughters eagerness for sex in a room full of people? This is but one example of the unrealistic dialogue that takes place between all of the characters in the novel.
The author also uses all of the historical cliches to tell her story and misses so many opportunities to provide real depth to her tale. For example, the author never really uses the historical fact that Katherine tried to pin her pregnancy on her first husband, Henry Herbert. She also misses an opportunity to build intrigue around the misplaced letter from Edward Seymour that proved the marriage had taken place, or at least his acknowledgement of her as his wife and misses the true romance between the two characters that is present in existing letters between the two. Katherine's separation of from Edward and her children is heartbreaking and her death is tragic, yet the author barely touches on these points. Instead, the author gives Katherine the cliche role of being pretty, but simple (while making Jane smart and pious and Mary ugly and overlooked). All three women were much more than that. This book does not do any of them justice.
Alison Weir has a book coming out next year about Katherine Grey and Edward Seymour. I would wait for this book and skip Three Maids for a Crown.
On page 35 the character of Lady Jane Grey tells her sister the story of the rumored murder of Jeanne of Navarre by Catherine de' Medici by a pair of poisoned gloves. However, the death of Jeanne of Navarre would not take place until June of 1572. Also, the story says that Katherine was buried in Cockfield Hall Chapel before later being reinterred in Salisbury Cathedral. However, Katherine was actually buried in Yoxford at St. Peter's Church.
The dialogue in the book is flat, and at times just plain impossible. One example of this is when Henry Grey is loudly commenting on how his daughter (Katherine) is a lot like him because she is so excited to consummate her marriage: (page 34) ..."You hear this beauty, everyone? Of the three, Katherine is most my daughter. Hot-blooded and ripe for her husband. Lord Herbert is a fortunate man to have such an eager bride...she is worth waiting for, my lad. It is only the final act you are forbidden. There is much you can amuse yourselves with until then." Clearly the author does not understand the reason why the families were not allowing the couples to consummate their marriages or she would know any impropriety would be a marital contract and stop an annulment if one was needed in the future. Also, in a world of religious protocol, is it really likely that Katherine's father would be announcing his daughters eagerness for sex in a room full of people? This is but one example of the unrealistic dialogue that takes place between all of the characters in the novel.
The author also uses all of the historical cliches to tell her story and misses so many opportunities to provide real depth to her tale. For example, the author never really uses the historical fact that Katherine tried to pin her pregnancy on her first husband, Henry Herbert. She also misses an opportunity to build intrigue around the misplaced letter from Edward Seymour that proved the marriage had taken place, or at least his acknowledgement of her as his wife and misses the true romance between the two characters that is present in existing letters between the two. Katherine's separation of from Edward and her children is heartbreaking and her death is tragic, yet the author barely touches on these points. Instead, the author gives Katherine the cliche role of being pretty, but simple (while making Jane smart and pious and Mary ugly and overlooked). All three women were much more than that. This book does not do any of them justice.
Alison Weir has a book coming out next year about Katherine Grey and Edward Seymour. I would wait for this book and skip Three Maids for a Crown.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
The Grey Perspective
9 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
During a very tumultuous time after King Edward VI dies, the reader gets the story of the 3 Grey sisters from each point of view. From Jane, the very serious Protestant scholar, to Katherine, the beauty of the family and her father's favorite, to Mary, whose deformity brings her hardship in a world that sees the Devil's mark on her. The girls are descended from Henry VII, and their royal blood brings nothing but heartache. Jane is executed for taking the crown, Katherine and Mary are scorned because of their traitor sister, and later the 2 bring on a queen's wrath for loving and marrying without royal consent.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Even though the narrative jumped between the 3 sisters, the narrative flowed straight instead of back tracking, making the transition easy to follow. There are many books about this time period, but only one other I have read has considered the Grey family, and then that one was mostly about Jane Grey. It was a very refreshing spin and I have enjoyed both of the author's books because of it.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Even though the narrative jumped between the 3 sisters, the narrative flowed straight instead of back tracking, making the transition easy to follow. There are many books about this time period, but only one other I have read has considered the Grey family, and then that one was mostly about Jane Grey. It was a very refreshing spin and I have enjoyed both of the author's books because of it.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
"Give way. You'll have to do what they command in the end."
2 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
The succession of Edward VI, frail only son of Henry VIII, ushers in one of the great dramas in English history, the vacancy a siren call to political opportunists, the wealthy and titled who build alliances and elaborate schemes for just such moments. Long in league with Henry and Frances Grey, Duke and Duchess of Suffolk, the powerful John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, anticipates a coup he has been secretly planning: instead of the Catholic Mary Tudor, the duke would insert Lady Jane Grey as queen. Jane has an equally valid blood claim after her mother, thereby safeguarding the throne from the influence of fanatical papists. The plan is brilliant, the plain but intelligent Jane wed to Guilford Dudley, her sister, Katherine, to Henry Herbert, neither marriage consummated until Northumberland gives his permission. While the Grey sisters are clearly pawns of birth and history, it is their parents' ambition that drives their young lives, the utterly ruthless Frances merciless in disciplining Jane until she submits. Jane is doomed to act out a tragic role, queen for nine days, toppled by Mary Tudor's forces and beheaded.
While the brutality of politics is the background for her historically detailed novel, Chase focuses on the relationships of the three sisters, the studious Jane, the beautiful Katherine and the youngest, tiny misshapen Mary, who bears equally the burden of birth and blood, but with none of the approbation, her tiny, twisted body often an object of revulsion. The intimate relationships of these fated sisters are revealed, from the intense drama of Jane's marriage to her crowning and beheading, Katherine and Mary's lifetime penance as Mary Tudor's ladies-in-waiting, Katherine secretly married to Edward Seymour (whom she provides with two male Tudor heirs, paying for her crime by imprisonment) and Mary's sad existence, brightened only by the unexpected love of a porter at Whitehall, scarce comfort when both her sisters lie in their graves, as well as the childless, impetuous Catholic Bloody Mary.
Ella March Chase infuses her characters with the attributes of royalty, in spite of the venality of their parents and the Duke of Northumberland. Shadowing Mary Tudor's reign, Katherine and Mary's lives are bleak, both destined to pay for their parents' folly, both still a threat, especially after Katherine's marriage to Seymour. History remembers Jane for her short time as queen and her intractable religious fervor on behalf of the Reformist cause when Bloody Mary's favor might still have been won. Jane is the unfortunate harbinger of the future, one in which the remaining sisters are harried by Mary Tudor and her sister, Elizabeth, for a scheme spawned by the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk. This is a thoughtful and tragic portrait of young women trapped by fate and parentage, sisters who cling to one another in the absence of mercy and a father who would barter "three maids for a crown". Luan Gaines/2011.
While the brutality of politics is the background for her historically detailed novel, Chase focuses on the relationships of the three sisters, the studious Jane, the beautiful Katherine and the youngest, tiny misshapen Mary, who bears equally the burden of birth and blood, but with none of the approbation, her tiny, twisted body often an object of revulsion. The intimate relationships of these fated sisters are revealed, from the intense drama of Jane's marriage to her crowning and beheading, Katherine and Mary's lifetime penance as Mary Tudor's ladies-in-waiting, Katherine secretly married to Edward Seymour (whom she provides with two male Tudor heirs, paying for her crime by imprisonment) and Mary's sad existence, brightened only by the unexpected love of a porter at Whitehall, scarce comfort when both her sisters lie in their graves, as well as the childless, impetuous Catholic Bloody Mary.
Ella March Chase infuses her characters with the attributes of royalty, in spite of the venality of their parents and the Duke of Northumberland. Shadowing Mary Tudor's reign, Katherine and Mary's lives are bleak, both destined to pay for their parents' folly, both still a threat, especially after Katherine's marriage to Seymour. History remembers Jane for her short time as queen and her intractable religious fervor on behalf of the Reformist cause when Bloody Mary's favor might still have been won. Jane is the unfortunate harbinger of the future, one in which the remaining sisters are harried by Mary Tudor and her sister, Elizabeth, for a scheme spawned by the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk. This is a thoughtful and tragic portrait of young women trapped by fate and parentage, sisters who cling to one another in the absence of mercy and a father who would barter "three maids for a crown". Luan Gaines/2011.
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