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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
I like this book and I learned more about Lady Jane and her family. I’d recommend if you’re interested in the Tudor era. I gave 3.75 instead of 4 because there were too many places where it seemed liberties were taken in descriptions of how people look and felt in specific conversations. Usually it was qualified with statements like “she may have thought” “he probably felt” but not always.
While I knew the basic outlines, this book really brought Jane to life. Lots of lovely details to make her world and her tragedy more clear.
dark
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
This book is everything I want out of a biography. The writing is both engaging and beautiful. The research is impeccable. Also, the book never veered off topic too much like some biographies do at times. Nicola Tallis did a great job of putting Jane Grey into context of the events and people around her, but it never felt like it became too much about other people. I also feel like I gained such a clear understanding of who Jane was and of the events of her life. I apprenticed that Jane was presented as sympathetic and obviously a victim but not a completely hapless and romanticized victim. Overall, this is a denominal book and I can't wait to read Nicola Tallis' other book (and anything else she writes tbh).
A very complete and mild look to the life and death of the Nine Days Queen.
Since I started to develop interest for History and the Tudor era, I was curious about the forgotten ones: for me, Edward VI and Jane Grey. Most people know about Mary I and Elizabeth I, but I've met people that didn't even know that Henry VIII had a son who got to reign for six years. Much less about his cousin Jane, who only ruled for nine days days.
Her story is indeed a very tragic one and I liked that this biography wouldn't focus only in her death, but also on every aspect of her life prior to becoming queen. The information is so vast and yet so easy to read. I've read biographies that were extremely dense and hard to keep reading, but this wasn't the case.
I can't think of a better book about who was Jane Grey.
Since I started to develop interest for History and the Tudor era, I was curious about the forgotten ones: for me, Edward VI and Jane Grey. Most people know about Mary I and Elizabeth I, but I've met people that didn't even know that Henry VIII had a son who got to reign for six years. Much less about his cousin Jane, who only ruled for nine days days.
Her story is indeed a very tragic one and I liked that this biography wouldn't focus only in her death, but also on every aspect of her life prior to becoming queen. The information is so vast and yet so easy to read. I've read biographies that were extremely dense and hard to keep reading, but this wasn't the case.
I can't think of a better book about who was Jane Grey.
The day had been an overwhelming whirl of emotions, and the pressure of the situation in which she now found herself was causing her incredible stress. She was angry. Forced into an unhappy marriage and a queenship that she had never saught. Jane had very little in terms of emotional support, but despite the presence of her mother, both knew what was expected of her, yet still she had managed to make her voice heard. She had already shown that she was prepared to assert her authority, and that she would not be bullied.
let's make this quick bc i'm at work. Jane Grey was beheaded at an EVEN YOUNGER age than poor Katherine Howard (Jane was 17). minutes before she was executed, she was blindfolded and groped around vainly for the block she was supposed to put her head on, and had to be helped. her father probably watched her die from his cell. we have no idea where she's buried.
i'm real impressed by the amount of content in this book. for someone who died even younger than K Howard, this was very very comprehensive. i must admit i don't know much about Jane other than what i read in the rompy My Lady Jane (which, I might add, is historical YA), so of course this was far more sobering and dismal. jesus. one can be a religious fanatic AND demand the crown jewels right after she's proclaimed Queen of England. i wonder if it's problematic of me to say that i like how Jane didn't follow in the footsteps of her milquetoast milksop namesake (Jane Seymour the Bore) in terms of personality, but my final verdict is this and i assure you it's just the plain jane truth:
being a woman in Tudor England SUCKED. rip to the teenage 13 days queen.
p.s. i don't know if it's because my library fucked up, but in some random bits of my audiobook, a different narrator would suddenly come in and start reading something else. weird.
let's make this quick bc i'm at work. Jane Grey was beheaded at an EVEN YOUNGER age than poor Katherine Howard (Jane was 17). minutes before she was executed, she was blindfolded and groped around vainly for the block she was supposed to put her head on, and had to be helped. her father probably watched her die from his cell. we have no idea where she's buried.
i'm real impressed by the amount of content in this book. for someone who died even younger than K Howard, this was very very comprehensive. i must admit i don't know much about Jane other than what i read in the rompy My Lady Jane (which, I might add, is historical YA), so of course this was far more sobering and dismal. jesus. one can be a religious fanatic AND demand the crown jewels right after she's proclaimed Queen of England. i wonder if it's problematic of me to say that i like how Jane didn't follow in the footsteps of her milquetoast milksop namesake (Jane Seymour the Bore) in terms of personality, but my final verdict is this and i assure you it's just the plain jane truth:
being a woman in Tudor England SUCKED. rip to the teenage 13 days queen.
p.s. i don't know if it's because my library fucked up, but in some random bits of my audiobook, a different narrator would suddenly come in and start reading something else. weird.
informative
medium-paced