I have long been fascinated with the Tudor era in English history. I read all that I could about the wives of Henry VIII and as many other historical figures as I could find, but for whatever reason, Jane Grey never really surfaced. Maybe because her reign was so short--they call her the Nine-Day Queen--she hasn't been given much page time, but I was thrilled to find My Lady Jane, which is a historical retelling of her reign, with a little fantasy sprinkled in. The salient change in this universe is the existence of beings known as E∂ians (pronounced eth-y-un), or people who have the ability to shape-shift into an animal. Namely, King Henry VIII, who turned into a lion and ate a court jester once, provoking the phrase "don't eat the messenger," according to the storytellers. The premise of My Lady Jane is this: 16-year-old King Edward is dying and must find a successor, and he lands on his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, who he decides will be married to Gifford Dudley, son of Edward's most trusted advisor. Gifford, often referred to as "G," is an E∂ian who becomes a horse whenever the sun crests the horizon, a change that he cannot help or control in any way. Jane does not want to be married, let alone be queen, so once Edward is declared dead (spoiler alert: in this version he actually is not dead!) she has a slight crisis. The book is divided into two parts, Part One, "in which we revise a bit of history," and Part Two, "in which we throw history out the window." Part Two expands upon the conspiracy to (poison and) overthrow Edward and details the E∂ian rebellion that helps Edward take back the throne.
One of the most enjoyable things about this book, I think, was the self-aware storytelling. The prologue sees the three authors establish themselves as the weavers of this tale, referring to themselves often and inserting sly commentary throughout the relation of the tale. A few notable examples are the nods to popular culture at the time, such as having G (who is a closet writer) muck up the composition of some famous Shakespeare lines and then slyly nodding to the conspiracy theory that he would actually become the man behind Shakespeare (p489). The cavalier way the Lady Janes (as the authors appellate themselves) deal with history and consistently acknowledge this attitude keeps the tone of the book light, and it helps the reader to have as much fun with it as the writers clearly are having.
Obviously Lady Jane is my favorite character in the book. She is presented as somewhat of a mystery, nose always buried in a book (sound familiar?) rather than engaging with the court around her. My favorite little detail, however, is her synonym habit. When she learns of her fiancé-to-be, that he is purportedly a ladies' man, she thinks,
"So. Her husband-to-be was a philanderer. A smooth operator. A debaucher. A rake. A frisker. (Jane became something of a walking thesaurus when she was upset, a side effect of too much reading.)" (p35)Although I disagree on principle with the idea of "too much reading" (is there such a thing??), I really appreciated the commitment to Jane's synonyms throughout the book. Again, there were moments where she would acknowledge she was doing it and the narrators would essentially come in and say that it was ok, it was what made her Jane.
