BR Her Highness the Traitor ~ The Tudor Story you Don't Know

Her Highness the Traitor: The Tudor Story you Don't Know

by Susan Higginbotham

In Her Highness, the Traitor, Susan Higginbotham, seeks to redeem the reputation of both the Dudley and Grey families.  Her purpose for the novel, as described in the author’s note, was to craft characters closer to their historical counterparts as she feels recent research has exposed that neither the Dudley’s or the Grey’s were the villains they are so as in popular fiction. 

Like many I have always thought Jane Grey a sympathetic character.  The poor girl, was used by other’s to serve their own ends, whether it be her only family or not, is beyond doubt.  I have never found any evidence that would cast any of the responsibility for the seizure of the throne on Jane herself.  Indeed, Mary I could not find fault against her.  Higginbotham inventively tells the story of Jane through the eyes of her mother, Frances Dudley, and her mother-in-law Jane Dudley.

I found the use of these woman at first off-putting, but some grew to appreciate Higginbotham’s choice of these women, not only two of the foremost noblewomen in the land, The Duchess of Suffolk and The Duchess of Norfolk, married to the two most powerful men and each connected to Jane. 

Admittedly, I have never liked Frances Grey, and though Higginbotham looked to redeem the character of families I feel that she was less successful with the Grey’s.  I seemed to take to Jane Dudley more, especially in her courageous and successful campaign to win the freedom of her sons.   In the end, in this reader’s opinion, Higginbotham was more successful in her purpose with the Dudley’s, and less so with the Grey’s.  The Grey’s, to this reader at least, still seemed to show little care for the safety of their children, were reckless and impulsive in their actions that seemed to be rooted in delusion more than anything else.  Perhaps there is just no redeeming them, but I applaud Higginbotham for her attempt.  

All that being said I enjoyed this novel and found it a quick entertaining read.  I also thoroughly enjoyed reading the story from the perspectives of powerful women and commend Higginbotham for venturing to set the course of fiction back on a more historically based foundation. 

This review qualifies for the following challenges:
Historical Fiction Book Review #24
Tudor Book Blog Reading Challenge #20

A look at the court of Henry VIII through the eyes of Mary Howard

Secrets of the Tudor Court

by D. L. Bogdan

Secrets of the Tudor Court is told from the perspective of Mary Howard, a marginal but well-connected woman in Tudor England.  Mary was not only the daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, married to Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, was in service as a lady in waiting to five of Henry VIII’s queens (Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr), but was cousin to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard and daughter-in-law to none other than the King himself.  It is her father, Thomas Howard, cunning and cruel, who has the greatest impact on her life.  Indeed much of the story involves the relationship of father and daughter and the impact this relationship has on Mary’s sense of self.

Overall, I found Bogdan’s account engaging, but I did find it a tedious read until the mid point of the story.  Perhaps this was because I didn't really warm to Bogdan’s Mary initially.  I found her lacking in so many qualities and so desperate to please everyone, but especially her father, who is depicted as nothing short of a tyrant.  I did find the relationship that Mary developed with Anne as well as the esteem in which she held her cousin endearing, but it wasn't until the midpoint of the novel that Mary, as well as her father Norfolk, were developed fully and the reader able to get some insight into the motivations for their actions.  This is my main criticism. 

Mary herself is a treasure.  She is a poet and musician and a supporter of the New Faith.  She is intelligent and a seeker of knowledge.  Despite this the overriding theme for Mary in Secrets of the Tudor Court is the desperate yearning for the love of her father.  Even after she witnesses her father’s duplicity in the rise and fall of two cousins she never wavers in her quest for his love.  Despite the example of her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Mary seems resigned to be a pawn for the use of men.  Truly, she is an empty sad woman for most of the first half of the novel.

It isn’t until the imprisonment of her father and the imprisonment and execution of her brother, Henry Howard, Earl of Suffolk, that Mary begins to be able to fully mature.  After receiving her brother’s children as wards Mary sees a purpose for her life beyond her father’s wishes.  She begins to realize that she has some control over her own destiny, but also wishes to nurture, support and love the children in her care.  Only at this point, for this reader, does Mary become engaging and dynamic as a character and the novel becomes a page-turner from this point until the last

However, I must applaud D.L. Bogdan, as Secrets of the Tudor Court is her debut novel and the small criticism I've made is certainly a honed skill.  I certainly was glad I read the account and must admit I read the last 200 pages in one sitting.  Bogdan also, through the use of Mary Howard as protagonist, gives the reader some insight into the plausible motivations and mindset of the influential but elusive Duke of Norfolk.

 This review qualifies for the following challenges:

Historical Fiction Book Review #15

Tudor Book Blog Reading Challenge #13