Crown of Blood

The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey

By: Nicola Tallis

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

"Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same." These were the heartbreaking words of a 17-year-old girl, Lady Jane Grey, as she stood on the scaffold awaiting death on a cold February morning in 1554. Minutes later, her head was struck from her body with a single stroke of a heavy ax. Her death for high treason sent shock waves through the Tudor world and served as a gruesome reminder to all who aspired to a crown that the ax could fall at any time.

Jane is known to history as "the Nine Days Queen", but her reign lasted, in fact, for 13 days. The human and emotional aspects of her story have often been ignored, although she is remembered as one of the Tudor era's most tragic victims. While this is doubtlessly true, it is only part of the complex jigsaw of Jane's story.

She was a remarkable individual with a charismatic personality who earned the admiration and affection of many of those who knew her. All were impressed by her wit, passion, intelligence, and determined spirit. Furthermore, the recent trend of trying to highlight her achievements and her religious faith has, in fact, further obscured the real Jane, a young religious radical who saw herself as an advocate of the reformed faith - Protestantism - and ultimately became a martyr for it.

Crown of Blood is an important and significant retelling of an often-misunderstood tale: Set at the time of Jane's downfall and following her journey through to her trial and execution, each chapter moves between the past and the "present", using a rich abundance of primary source material (some of which has never been published) in order to paint a vivid picture of Jane's short and turbulent life. This dramatic narrative traces the dangerous plots and web of deadly intrigue in which Jane became involuntarily tangled - and that ultimately led to a shocking and catastrophic conclusion.

©2016 Nicola Tallis (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Engaging and expansive

The audio on this one was a bit patchy, but the content of the story was wonderful. It was amazing to hear the story of one so often overlooked between the chapters of other monarchs.

Crown of blood

I like this review because it gives a clear history of The time of King Edward and King Henry. I always like reading history and learning different perspectives.

Well Written

The information was great and overall the history is fascinating, and accurate. The book is well written. It’s just hard to listen to. It sounds like it is being read by an automated recording and not by an actual person. After the initial hour or so you get used to it though.

No disappointment here!

I've always been fascinated by Lady Jane's story, so when I heard Ms Tallis speaking about this book during an interview, I was all in! This book has all the goods: the story from start to finish, with all of the meticulous background research one would expect. I especially enjoyed the bonus info from the appendices.

Person

Interesting and detailed content. However, I wish Flosnik would have referred to the various nobility by names instead of property. All the family lineage in the later chapter became so confusing it detracted me from truly grasping all the interpersonal dynamics.