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Before the Reign Falls: The Lost Words of Lady Jane Grey
During the renovation of a decrepit old barn by several friends, the chance finding of various old manuscripts lodged between some wall cavities reveals clues to a mystery that goes back over four and a half centuries to the time of Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey, who is often referred to as the Nine Day Queen.
Told from several viewpoints, the startling story of Lady Jane Grey finally comes to light as the previously unknown last moments of her life involving mystery, intrigue, politics and love, come to an explosive ending that may even force a revision of the history books.
Told from several viewpoints, the startling story of Lady Jane Grey finally comes to light as the previously unknown last moments of her life involving mystery, intrigue, politics and love, come to an explosive ending that may even force a revision of the history books.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 30, 2017
About the author
David Black
147 books23 followersLibrarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 30, 2020
Author David Black uses literary license to relate the intense historical fiction of Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen. A royal, descending from Henry VII, she was put on the throne only to be deposed by her cousin Mary, Queen Mary I.
This story unfolds using a diary type of format that has the listener moving between 16th century England and modern day. The prologue sets the listener up with the history of the royals which provided me a suitable frame of reference for those times and the relationships. From there, the story moves to modern day with Alice and Elliott traveling the backroads of England to help a buddy who is restoring and older property he purchased.
The combination of the historical back story told from the modern-day viewpoint was enjoyable. I liked how many of the characters told their own story, especially Lady Jane Grey. None of her short life was easy and though she was privileged I found her a tragic character. The author weaves surprising twists and turns that piqued my interest all the way to the unexpected ending.
Sarah Jane Rose was a good choice as narrator of this tale. She has a delightful quality to her voice, with accents ideal to the story location. Her speed and timing were perfect along with well-placed emotional highs and lows as the characters told their portion for the story.
The production quality of the audible as done well and without flaws.
This story unfolds using a diary type of format that has the listener moving between 16th century England and modern day. The prologue sets the listener up with the history of the royals which provided me a suitable frame of reference for those times and the relationships. From there, the story moves to modern day with Alice and Elliott traveling the backroads of England to help a buddy who is restoring and older property he purchased.
The combination of the historical back story told from the modern-day viewpoint was enjoyable. I liked how many of the characters told their own story, especially Lady Jane Grey. None of her short life was easy and though she was privileged I found her a tragic character. The author weaves surprising twists and turns that piqued my interest all the way to the unexpected ending.
Sarah Jane Rose was a good choice as narrator of this tale. She has a delightful quality to her voice, with accents ideal to the story location. Her speed and timing were perfect along with well-placed emotional highs and lows as the characters told their portion for the story.
The production quality of the audible as done well and without flaws.
February 4, 2020
Tudor history fascinates me, so a book about Lady Jane Grey is right up my alley. There's some back and forth in time in this book that is pretty well done, but the story could have done with a bit more editing. I want more of the contemporary exploration, more mystery. Jane Grey's perspective was great, and the insertion of this idea into actual history was fun, but it felt pretty disjointed and incomplete? Also, as I was listening to the audiobook, I have a serious bone to pick with the tiny excerpts from each chapter before the chapter actually starts; it was really confusing and felt repetitive and unnecessary. Anyway, like Perkin Warbeck, I happily accept this headcanon.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
February 10, 2020
This is an intriguing alternate history creatively presented mostly through diary entries. It also includes some very concise and straight forward historical details of the people and politics of the time period. It's nicely performed by Sarah Jane Rose.
NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
May 10, 2020
I think this is one of the best books that I have read all year. During a renovation of an old barn manuscripts that are over 400yrs old are found lodged in a wall..... A great book you won’t be disappointed
September 13, 2022
audible:This was an amazing book!I enjoyed the whole thing, After buying a house a diary is found that is possibly the true story of Lady Jane Grey. Narration was well done.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
February 4, 2020
As a lover of historical fiction, a self professed anglophile, and a massive fan of Tudor literature Before the Reign Falls checks all these boxes. The story of the Nine-Day Queen, Jane Grey, Before the Reign Falls is the story of missing letters and events that occur after her execution.
I enjoyed a lot of the callouts of the historical details, like Catherine Parr's portrait painter. The fictional twists were very interesting and enjoyable to read.
I enjoyed a lot of the callouts of the historical details, like Catherine Parr's portrait painter. The fictional twists were very interesting and enjoyable to read.
August 3, 2017
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the story and from the beginning I wasn’t positive if it was historical fiction or just fiction. But when I finished reading it I realized that it was historical fiction since a lot of it was based on historical fact with embellishments to make the story more interesting. After further researched I discovered that it was indeed historical fiction.
What do we already know about Lady Jane Grey? She was born in 1537 to Frances Brandon and Henry Grey – through both her parents she was related to royalty. Her mother was the daughter of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, while her father was a descendant of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV. We also know that Jane was placed on the throne by her over-zealous father-in-law, John Dudley and ruled as queen for only nine days. Lady Jane Grey was later executed by her cousin, Queen Mary I of England.
The prologue gives us a quick glimpse into the history of the reign of Henry VIII, so if you are new to the dynasty this will give you some ‘cliff notes’ on the topic. From there you go to the first chapter and meet the main characters of the book (besides Jane), it appears that it starts off in present day with a couple, Elliott and Alice. The couple are traveling to a location they are unfamiliar with on the back roads of England to assist Elliot’s friend with cleaning up and restoring his newly purchased property.
When Elliott and Alice arrived they found a bunch of dilapidated buildings and overgrown landscape. From there the story goes into telling us about how much work had to go into restoring these buildings and a bit of history into the previous owners of the buildings.
The story progressed to the couple having to stay one of the buildings, a worn down barn-type thing. While I appreciate that the author was building the story and the characters it left me wanting the story to progress to Lady Jane Grey.
The book itself is about 261 pages long and it wasn’t until almost 100 pages in that we got around to the topic of the book. To me this is when the story really started to get good and I had a hard time putting the book down. At this point I’ll be honest, without all the back story of the characters I would not have been able to follow along as things were unveiled to the reader. We learned about the relationship between Jane and her cousin Queen Mary I and Mary’s struggle with her decision to execute her cousin. We also get a brief glimpse at the relationship between Jane and Elizabeth Tudor.
When the story is told by Lady Jane we get a bit of insight into her relationship with her parents, her in-laws and her husband, Guildford Dudley.
For some, it may be difficult to keep up with a different perspective in the story. It is written from the perspective of present day and then you have a couple of characters from the past that tell their story. As you’re reading it you realized that these two characters lives are intertwined.
This book takes a different look at history. What if type of history. I remember thinking while reading it on my gosh what if this really happened? There’s twists and turns that you don’t expect and you’re pleasantly surprised at the outcome of the story. I really want to tell you what happens in the book but I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you!
I have a hard time deciding what to rate this book because the last 150 some pages of the book were fantastic, but it was the first 100 that left me wanting more. So with that being said I’m gonna give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. And I would definitely recommend reading it if you want to delve more into the history of Lady Jane Grey.
What do we already know about Lady Jane Grey? She was born in 1537 to Frances Brandon and Henry Grey – through both her parents she was related to royalty. Her mother was the daughter of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, while her father was a descendant of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV. We also know that Jane was placed on the throne by her over-zealous father-in-law, John Dudley and ruled as queen for only nine days. Lady Jane Grey was later executed by her cousin, Queen Mary I of England.
The prologue gives us a quick glimpse into the history of the reign of Henry VIII, so if you are new to the dynasty this will give you some ‘cliff notes’ on the topic. From there you go to the first chapter and meet the main characters of the book (besides Jane), it appears that it starts off in present day with a couple, Elliott and Alice. The couple are traveling to a location they are unfamiliar with on the back roads of England to assist Elliot’s friend with cleaning up and restoring his newly purchased property.
When Elliott and Alice arrived they found a bunch of dilapidated buildings and overgrown landscape. From there the story goes into telling us about how much work had to go into restoring these buildings and a bit of history into the previous owners of the buildings.
The story progressed to the couple having to stay one of the buildings, a worn down barn-type thing. While I appreciate that the author was building the story and the characters it left me wanting the story to progress to Lady Jane Grey.
The book itself is about 261 pages long and it wasn’t until almost 100 pages in that we got around to the topic of the book. To me this is when the story really started to get good and I had a hard time putting the book down. At this point I’ll be honest, without all the back story of the characters I would not have been able to follow along as things were unveiled to the reader. We learned about the relationship between Jane and her cousin Queen Mary I and Mary’s struggle with her decision to execute her cousin. We also get a brief glimpse at the relationship between Jane and Elizabeth Tudor.
When the story is told by Lady Jane we get a bit of insight into her relationship with her parents, her in-laws and her husband, Guildford Dudley.
For some, it may be difficult to keep up with a different perspective in the story. It is written from the perspective of present day and then you have a couple of characters from the past that tell their story. As you’re reading it you realized that these two characters lives are intertwined.
This book takes a different look at history. What if type of history. I remember thinking while reading it on my gosh what if this really happened? There’s twists and turns that you don’t expect and you’re pleasantly surprised at the outcome of the story. I really want to tell you what happens in the book but I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you!
I have a hard time deciding what to rate this book because the last 150 some pages of the book were fantastic, but it was the first 100 that left me wanting more. So with that being said I’m gonna give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. And I would definitely recommend reading it if you want to delve more into the history of Lady Jane Grey.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews