“We had none of us girls been born to
inherit a crown, and yet it has overshadowed us all our lives— and blighted
them. I thought once that it would be a wonderful thing to be a queen, to wield
power and wear the coveted diadem— but I know differently now. Tangling with
princes rarely brought anyone anything but ill-fortune and grief.” – Alison Weir, A Dangerous Inheritance:
A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower
A Dangerous Inheritance is a fascinating story told from the
alternating points of view of Katherine Grey and Kate Plantagenet. With a time
difference of less than 100 years between them; Katherine in the year 1553 and
Kate in 1483, these two young royals lives become connected when they try to
investigate the mystery of the two miss Princes in the Tower; bothers Edward V
of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.
The novel
starts with Katherine Grey just receiving word that her sister Lady Jane Grey,
a Queen for only nine days had just been executed.
In 1553,
Katherine at age 12 and Jane, age 16 were married in a double ceremony. Katherine
married Henry Herbert and Jane married Guildford Dudley; men that their parents
Lady Frances Brandon and Henry Grey chose hoping that the marriages would prove
to be advantageous for the whole family. It was not. A plot developed for Jane
to take over the throne and become Queen, and she was…for nine short days until
Mary takes over the throne and Jane was imprisoned. Both Katherine and Jane
become unwilling pawns caught up in the schemes of their parents who were vying
for power and the throne. Their lives
were not their own, decisions were made for them, yet they were the ones who
paid a high price for those decisions.
As for Kate
Plantagenet, she is the illegitimate daughter of King Richard III. Kate begins
to hear rumors swirling around about her father being involved in the
disappearance of the two Princes in the Tower. She has great faith in her
father and believes he had nothing to do with their disappearances. She despises hearing these negative this
against King Richard III and because of this she sets out trying to uncover
what really happened.
This is the
first novel I have read from Alison Weir, and I hope it will not be my last.
The novel was well written and pretty easy to follow along with
everything. The characters and their
story are intriguing and a bit sad at the same time, especially since they were
real people. The mystery with the princes adds a nice layer of suspense and I found
myself not wanting to stop until I found out what happened. Having said that
though, I think the novel would have been just as good without the mystery of
the two princes. But it was an
interesting and I think effective way to intertwine these two young women from
different time periods. It was a long
read, but an entertaining and enjoyable one nevertheless.
Rating: 3½ out of 5
**
I received this ARC from Random House/Ballantine Books via Edelweiss in
exchange for my honest review. Thank you.**
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