Nine Days A Queen: The Short Life And Reign Of Lady Jane Grey

Nine Days a Queen, The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi The book I chose to report on was about the life and short reign of Lady Jane Grey. Lady Jane Grey was born in 1537 of the Tudor House. Lady Jane was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII and cousin to Edward VI. Following her was the birth of her two sisters, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary. Ann Rinaldi uses historical fact and evocative writing to describe Jane’s life as if by her own teenage words. The book was written as if Jane was telling her own true to life story beginning from her early childhood years, growing up in Bradgate Park in Leicestershire, to her final days before her beheading locked away in the tower of London. Lady Jane Grey comes to life to tell her side of this intricate story from beyond the grave. Jane, related to the Tudors through her mother, becomes third in line to the throne following the death of her cousin, King Edward. Unfortunately, Jane is betrothed to the son of a nobleman who is determined to keep her cousin, Princess Mary, daughter of Catherine of Argon and Henry VIII, from gaining the throne. Jane ascends the
Whereas both books mention the fight Queen Mary put up to regain succession to the throne, what Guy concisely mentions is that for almost two weeks Jane was the Queen of England. Guy’s concentration is more on Mary’s fight for the throne. Rinaldi gives us the other side of the story perspective, what was happening on the inside of the castle walls as opposed to Mary’s battle in the countryside. Guy also doesn’t mention that once restored to her rightful spot on the throne, Mary almost pardons her young cousin Jane. That was until Jane’s father Henry Grey attempted a plan of treason upon Mary which went terribly wrong costing young Jane, her husband Guildford Dudley, and her father’s