Of the male narrators-her father, Dorset, and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, later Duke of Northumberland-neither views Jane as anything more than a means to an end. Lady Mary, later Queen Mary, also shows a level of sympathy for the girl, even as she despises her religion. Ellen, and Queen Katherine Parr, who becomes a sort of foster mother to Jane. Adding a much-needed dose of tenderness are her nurse, Mrs. Next is her self-absorbed, spiteful, mother, Frances Brandon. Weir, a noted historian, parcels the story out by means of multiple narrators, the primary voice being that of Jane herself. Her parents have royal ambitions, however, and that is what precipitates tragedy. As the great-niece of King Henry VIII, it would have been customary for her family to forge a marriage alliance with one of the first families of the realm. She was well-born, highly educated, and a devout Protestant. For those unfamiliar with British royal history, fifteen-year-old Lady Jane was named queen of England for nine days in July 1553. This riveting, richly descriptive novel chronicles the life of Lady Jane Grey.
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