read by Bianca Amato
This book is about Lady Jane Grey, queen of England for nine days between Edward VI and Mary I, and her lesser-known two younger sisters, Catherine and Mary. Each girl tells her story in successive parts.
Philippa Gregory combined her Tudor Court Novels and Cousins' War series, as well as this and her previous book, into what she now calls "The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels." There are 15 of them. In an interview when this book was published in August 2017, Gregory said "This is, I think, going to be my last book on the Tudors," and that she wants to move on to write about "fictional characters in a realistic historical setting."
This book reads like the author is tired of the subject. It does not help that not much happens in the book, because the three Grey girls spent much of their lives imprisoned, either in the Tower of London or under house arrest. They seem to spend most of their time speculating about whether their cousins (Mary I and the always-suspicious Elizabeth I) will execute or free them, and about other goings-on at the time, such as Elizabeth's affair with Robert Dudley and the saga of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The trouble is - Gregory has told all these stories before. It was interesting to learn more about Catherine and (especially) Mary Grey, about whom I knew very little, but their stories could have been told in far fewer pages. I found the audiobook was making me sleepy while I was commuting - NOT a good sign.
Even the veteran audiobook narrator, South African actress Bianca Amato, seems tired of the series. I did not note any real difference in the portrayal of the three sisters - they all sounded the same to me.
Besides the brief author's note that the audiobook has, the print book does include a short bibliography (two pages) at the end, and family trees as of 1550 for the Stuarts/Tudors, Seymours, and Dudleys at the beginning of the book.
© Amanda Pape - 2017
[The e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to a public library.]
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