Brilliant
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They're very few novels, biogrpahies on Henry's third wife, because of the fact she was so little known.
But in this book Jane Seymour comes alive in her own persona, not just as 'beloved and true wife' but as a young woman, trying to discover who she is in a court full of change, and we watch her grow from 'Seymour girl' to 'Queen of England'
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Wow,
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Wow! After there being basically NO books written about Jane Seymour [or fictional ones, anyway] I was very keen to get my hands on this book. And it really was quite a work of genius. I loved every single page of it, the description of Jane was superb and you can see the kindness of Catherine of Aragon when she is the queen and the rivalry of Catherine and Anne Boleyn later on in the book. You also get to imagine what it was really like at court in the 1530's, and how nasty Queen Anne was to Jane. It really was some work of genius, and I can't wait to read the first two.
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A Nice Little Book About Jane
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This is a nice little book about Jane Seymour. It seems to capture Jane's character. She's gentle, hurt that she's slighted for being 'plain', determined to make a mark but unsure if she can. As a plain woman, I know that those slights would colour her character and be uppermost in her mind. I regret that there is not much colour and action in the book. The pace is too fast. We don't see much of the relationships between her and her upwardly mobile brothers, between her and Anne Boleyn or Catherine of Aragon, between her and the Princess Mary. She seems to be on the fringe, where I suppose she would have been in real life until Henry gradually becomes interested in her. There must've been meat in those relationships though, especially with her brothers, who must have seen their chance to rise in her and thus pressed her with advice. What did she think of that? Did she dred that the baby she carried might be a girl? I don't think the author got deep enough inside the lady.
But novels about Jane Seymour are few and this one has its charms. I'm curious to read her take on Anne of Cleves.
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a nice enough read
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Truth to tell, I've always had a soft spot for Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife, even if I have found it a little difficult to relate to her. There's something about the picture of how a calm, practical young woman was able to heal a few rifts and naviagate her way through a chancey and treacherous court before her untimely death that captures the imagination. Strangely enough, not much is known about Jane Seymour. Was she the pious, naive, country girl, who against all the odds, captured the fancy and affections of a king? Or was she an ambitious and conniving young woman who saw an opportunity and pounced? Many authors and historians have settled for portraying Jane Seymour as a colourless noneity; Laurien Gardner, on the other hand, has tried to portray Jane as something a little between these two extremes, and so making "Plain Jane" a rather engaging read, and something a little different from everything else out there.
Jane Seymour was nine when she overheard her parents bemoaning her lack of looks. Miserable and angry because their easy dismissal of her, Jane resolves to have a better future for herself than any of her clever brothers and pretty sisters. But as the years pass, Jane sees her hopes and opportunities dwindle to nothingness. That is until her uncle, Sir Francis Bryan, a friend of the King's, comes for a visit. Seeing in Jane something that her parents have seemingly easily missed, Sir Francis manages to finagle a place for Jane amongst Catherine of Aragon's ladies. Jane is finally getting the opportunity to spread her wings and make that future she promised herself all those years ago -- will she succeed?
While I found "Plain Jane" to be a fairly absorbing read, I did find the book a little tedious in parts -- like when the author keeps going over the fact that everyone finds Jane plain and dull, for instance. Another thing that irked was how we were constantly being told how intelligant Jane is, and yet we're not really shown this, or least not very much. In fact there were instances where I wondered about Jane's supposedly superior intellect. On the other hand, I did think that the author did a wonderful job of showing us why Henry would have preferred quiet, unassuming Jane over the tumultuous and tempestuous Anne. I also liked that the author gave Jane spunk and determination, and that she didn't portray Jane as a meek, pious weakling. On the whole, "Plain Jane" was a well written book -- the author did a good job of portraying Jane's life at home and at court, and various characters' reaction to and treatment of her (as well as her reactions to them). The problem I had with the book stemmed from the feeling of a lack of continuity (this may have something to do with the lack of a concrete time line -- chapter headings with dates might have been nice); the hammering home, once too often, that Jane was plain; and that Jane seemed to hover between being canny and coy. Perhaps the author should have used the voice of another to tell Jane's story as was done in "The Spanish Bride" & "A Lady Raised High?" However, in spite of all my reservations I did think that "Plain Jane" was a good effort and is well worth it's modest cover price.
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