Get Free eBook Sample
Suzannah Dunn is the author of nine previous novels, many of them set during the Tudor Era. Suzannah lives in England.
The Lady of Misrule: A Novel
eBook
$11.49
$14.95
| Save 23%
-
ISBN-13:
9781681770956
- Publisher: Pegasus Books
- Publication date: 12/31/2015
- Sold by: Barnes & Noble
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 320
- Sales rank: 307,997
- File size: 581 KB
Available on NOOK devices and apps
Want a NOOK? Explore Now
11.49
In Stock
The unforgettable story of Lady Jane Grey's imprisonment in the Tower of London, after ruling England for only nine days . . .
Escorting the nine-day queen Lady Jane Grey across the Tower of London from throne room into imprisonment is Elizabeth Tilney, who surprised even herself by volunteering for the job. All Elizabeth knows is she's keen to be away from home; she could do with some breathing space. And anyway, it won't be for long: everyone knows Jane will go free as soon as the victorious new queen is crowned. Which is a good thing because the two sixteen-year-olds, cooped up together in a room in the Gentleman Gaoler's house, couldn't be less compatible. Protestant Jane is an icily self-composed idealist, and Catholic Elizabeth is . . . well, anything but.They are united though by their disdain for the seventeen-year-old boy to whom Jane has recently been married: petulant, noisily-aggrieved Guildford Dudley, held prisoner in a neighboring tower and keen to pursue his prerogative of a daily walk with his wife.
As Jane's captivity extends into the increasingly turbulent last months of 1553, the two girls learn to live with each other, but Elizabeth finds herself drawn into the difficult relationship between the newlyweds. And when, at the turn of the year, events take an unexpected and dangerous direction, her newfound loyalties are put to the test.
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
-
- The Queen's Sorrow: A…
- by Suzannah Dunn
-
- Mandarin: A Novel
- by Robert Elegant
-
- The Queen's Sorrow
- by Suzannah Dunn
-
- The Lost Diary of Don Juan: An…
- by Douglas Carlton Abrams
-
- The Enemies of Versailles: A…
- by Sally Christie
-
- Margaret the Queen
- by Nigel Tranter
-
- Dynasty: A Novel
- by Robert Elegant
-
- The Wallace
- by Nigel Tranter
-
- The May Bride: A Novel
- by Suzannah Dunn
-
- The Foreign Field: The Morland…
- by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
-
- The French Bride
- by Evelyn Anthony
-
- A Secret Alchemy: A Novel
- by Emma Darwin
-
- Clandara
- by Evelyn Anthony
-
- Elizabeth: A Novel of…
- by Evelyn Anthony
-
- Macbeth the King
- by Nigel Tranter
-
- Columba
- by Nigel Tranter
-
- The Noble Assassin
- by Christie Dickason
-
- The Mirage: The Morland…
- by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Recently Viewed
The Daily Telegraph
A remarkable writer, a lyricist of ordinary life and ordinary people transfigured by extreme emotions.The Times (London)
Her ear for the rhythms of speech is unerring, her feeling for the minutiae of experience acute. It takes a good deal of artistry to create the illusion of real life, and she has managed something more difficult still, which is to show us how strange real life can be.Alison Weir
I often abandon historical novels nowadays, but I really could not put this one down.Booklist
Suggest this historical novel, brightly and smartly narrated by the clear-eyedElizabeth, to fans of Hilary Mantel’s work.
Paste Magazine
A compelling and engaging portrait of two teen girls experiencing history in a microcosm. Dunn has created a small window through which readers can experience the fictionalized fates of two young women immortalized in English history. Unpretentious and riveting, The Lady of Misrule puts a human face on one of history’s most important footnotes.”Library Journal
11/01/2015Elizabeth Tilney, the narrator of Dunn's sixth Tudor-era novel (The Queen of Subtleties; The Confession of Katherine Howard), is eager to volunteer to keep Lady Jane Grey company in the Tower of London. Elizabeth's home life is complicated, and everyone knows it's only a matter of time before Jane is pardoned for her failed bid to take the throne. As Elizabeth gets to know both Jane and her husband, Guildford, she comes to terms with her past and prepares for the uncertain future facing all three of them. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Jane's plan for that future may be very different from what Elizabeth envisions. VERDICT Dunn is known for using modern-sounding dialog and slang in her Tudor fiction. Readers who have been put off by it before will find similar jarring moments here, though not as many as in previous novels. Elizabeth is likable, and the book is noteworthy for its unusually sympathetic portrait of Guildford Dudley. Yet a plot consisting mainly of the protagonists sitting around the Tower combined with an overly rushed ending may leave even the most devoted Tudor fan unsatisfied. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/15.]—Mara Bandy, Champaign P.L., IL
Kirkus Reviews
2015-10-18An addition to the growing shelf of Tudor-era historical fiction explores the consequences a young queen faces after her brief reign. The unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, cousin of the short-lived Edward VI, was bullied into marriage and foisted upon the throne for a nine-day reign before being swatted aside by supporters of Mary Tudor. Dunn adds to her body of work set in this period (The May Bride, 2014, etc.) by guiding us through the months of Jane's imprisonment in the Tower of London. She is chaperoned by Elizabeth Tilney, the love-starved teenage daughter of rural gentry who narrates the novel: "A good Catholic girl was what they said they needed" to keep Jane company in her Tower apartment. Merely indifferently good or Catholic, Elizabeth has an arresting, original voice, and, country girl or no, she sounds darkly street-smart and contemporary. Jane is a scholarly Protestant, dedicated to her books and the great theological freedom they might bring to England. Elizabeth, by contrast, describes herself as a "ducker and diver, following my nose, keeping to corners, taking what I could get and believing in nothing and no one." In those turbulent times, Elizabeth's equivocation is shared by most of her countrymen, who flipped between Catholicism and Protestantism to save their necks. But Elizabeth begins to feel fickle in the face of the devotion of her pious bedmate. Despite their differences, the women bond, and Elizabeth also grows close to Jane's pompous but loyal husband, Guilford. Dunn assumes a reading audience attuned to the theology and politics of the times. But the story of the reluctant friendship between two young women, one from whom the world expected too much and one whom the world barely acknowledged, is keenly drawn and wrenching in its outcome. Fun, engaging prose enhances complex religious themes; a good novel for those already Elizabethan-era savvy.