Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir’s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. I am to die when I have hardly begun to live. Overall, I found this an engrossing, easy listen, but not satisfying enough as a novel to rate more than 3 stars.I am now a condemned traitor. The multiple-narrators style worked well here.

Thankfully, there is little graphic sex or violence or even bodice ripping. The dialogue was pedantic at times as the historical information was related. It's mostly a standard view of history, even though it champions a woman's view through the heroine's eyes. Dialogue is brisker than most historical fiction I've come across, with more historical info packed into it. She resolves the language divide from Tudor England better than most, opting for contemporary terminology rather than awkward dialogue, with archaic terms for medical and sexual words thrown in as a nod to the period (women awaiting their courses to see if a man's seed had quickened in her womb.). Perhaps by avoiding awkward attempts to recreate period, Weir actually is more true to the period. The characters (even Lady Jane as a four year old and her moderately educated nurse) just speak by turns chronologically, journal style, in elegant modern prose. Weir makes so pretence of using literary devices other than modified epistolary format, and no literary devices are much better than the feeble ones usually found in historical fiction. but as a novel, it's far from the literary fiction category. Don't hesitate to get this book - you will not want it to end. And if you enjoy this style, as well as the time period/Tudor era, you will also like Philippa Gregory's 'The Boleyn Inheritance', which is narrated in similar manner. This multi-narrator treatment works extremely well to make it a 'can't stop' listen. What makes this colorful and outstanding narrative come completely to life is the selection of excellent readers for each of the characters.

To enhance the storyline, the tale is told from the pov's of a number of different characters - from Lady Jane, to her mother, to the last of Henry's wives, Katherine Parr.

Weir does an extraordinary job capturing her life and the circumstances that made her such a tragic figure in the Tudor legacy. The brief reign of the Lady Jane Grey is not often written about, and Ms. Allison Weir is one of the best historical fiction writers on the bookshelves, and this book is superb.

Innocent traitor by alison weir