Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Lady Jane


Just finished In the Shadow of Lady Jane by Edward Charles. Despite some internal problems, I think it a good addition to the historical fiction genre. Lady Jane Grey and Lady Catherine Grey can be compared to the young ladies in Sense and Sensibility - Lady Jane representing reason and Lady Catherine emotion. The hero of the novel is one Richard Stocker, a precocious rising star in Tudor England.

It is good to get a male point of view. It is going to be hard for me to use H6 as a narrator, so this book was instructive. However, Richard Stocker is very capable, and comfortable in a variety of social situations. He has no military experience, nor does he obtain any. Other than that, he is at 16, the consummate servant.

Now, of late, I have read works of historical fiction taking place in three different centuries. It is time to tuck into some historical fact - I believe I will attempt the popular historian Desmond Seward.

2 comments:

Susan Higginbotham said...

I'm been dithering whether to buy this one or not. Think it's worth it? (I have some Amazon credit that's nagging at me to spend it.)

Judy said...

Hi Susan -

Thanks for reading - the book is a mixed bag. I enjoyed it but you have to suspend belief - everyone is impossibly young to match Lady Jane's youth, everyone speaks in soliloquies - but somehow it has its appeal - a good portrait of Lady Jane's piety as a Protestant "saint". For some reason, I couldn't put it down.