The release date for the English version of 'Innocent Traitor' by
Alison Weir is Feb 2007. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
I am a traitor now, convicted... I am gonna die before I have really had a chance to live.
In Alison Weir's captivating first book, historical scholarship blends with captivating fiction to bring to life one of the most momentous and turbulent times of the English monarchy. It tells the tale of Lady Jane Grey, sometimes known as "the Nine Days' Queen," a fifteen-year-old girl who, in the sixteenth century, unintentionally finds herself in the epicenter of the religious and civic turbulence that almost brought down the legendary House of Tudor.
Jane Grey was born during the very chaotic time between Anne Boleyn's death and the end of Jane's famed great-uncle, King Henry VIII. Her parents are a cunning father and a merciless mother, and she feels like a pawn in a dynastic game with enormous stakes. Following the untimely death of Edward VI, Henry's heir and Jane's teenage cousin, there is a power struggle driven by deadly religious zeal and political intrigue.
Jane is very clever, unapologetically honest, and has a strong sense of moral integrity that will help her weather any crisis. Despite her desire to bury herself in literature and religious studies rather than pursue a life of politics, she is compelled to take the throne, which ignites a conflagration of treachery, tragedy, and intrigue.
In this magnificent play, Alison Weir brings life to the numerous vibrant characters with her unparalleled historical talents. Weir depicts Lady Jane Grey and her ambitious relatives, the Catholic "Bloody" Mary who would stop at nothing to take the throne, the protestant and future queen Elizabeth, and her cunning parents, beloved nanny, and the charitable Queen Katherine Parr in exquisite detail. Inside royal bedchambers and drawing rooms, readers discover the power struggles surrounding Lady Jane Grey from the day of her birth until her painfully tragic death. A charming young lady whose short reign and short life would make her a legend, Innocent Traitor presents a thorough and intriguing depiction of her.
"A really strong debut. Weir has a knack for developing and sustaining suspense, and it is obvious that she will play a significant role in the historical fiction genre.
-The Unofficial
"Among the best popular historians of our time is Allison Weir. In her first work of fiction . . . Weir manages her heroine’s voice brilliantly, respecting the past’s distance while conjuring a dignified and fiercely modern spirit.”
— Daily Mail of London