Innocent Traitor

by Alison Weir

Reviewed by Coral

Jane Grey is a disappointment to her family the moment she is born a daughter rather than a son. She is barely a month old when she becomes a pawn for her parents, who scheme to one day marry her to Edward, King Henry VIII’s newly born son.

Through the political upheaval that follows the death of Henry and the coronation of Edward as a child under the protectorate of his uncle, Jane’s parents continue their scheming. But as Edward grows ill, suddenly a bigger prize stands before them and Jane’s parents are willing to risk everything to place their daughter on England’s throne.

I liked that the book was told from various points of view, so we got to see the story from different sides. I do wish that the characters’ had a more individual feel to them, but I felt that other than the name of the chapter there wasn’t very much effort made to distinguish them from each other.

Given the time period, I know it would be impossible to tell this story without delving into the religious upheaval that was going on at the time, but it was one of the aspects I disliked about a few characters.

At some point it seemed like Jane just had too many horrible things happening to her: abusive parents, abusive husband, used as a political pawn. A part of me wished that she could have been more complicit in her parents’ schemes. I guess I wish she had been a stronger character, because she never seemed to be in control, although that was what made her a tragic character as well. But as a main character, I feel she needed more strength to really carry the story.

There really wasn’t anything I loved or hated about this book.

Grade: C