Title: Sisters of Treason Series: Tudor Trilogy #2
Author: Elizabeth Fremantle
Published: July 8, 2014
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Page Count: 436
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Early in Mary Tudor’s turbulent reign, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary Grey are reeling after the brutal execution of their elder seventeen-year-old sister, Lady Jane Grey, and the succession is by no means stable.
Neither sister is well suited to a dangerous life at court. Flirtatious Lady Catherine, thought to be the true heir, cannot control her compulsion to love and be loved. Her sister, clever Lady Mary, has a crooked spine and a tiny stature in an age when physical perfection equates to goodness -- and both girls have inherited the Tudor blood that is more curse than blessing. For either girl to marry without royal permission would be a potentially fatal political act. It is the royal portrait painter, Levina Teerlinc, who helps the girls survive these troubled times. She becomes their mentor and confidante.
But when the Queen’s sister, the hot-headed Elizabeth, inherits the crown, life at court becomes increasingly treacherous for the surviving Grey sisters. Ultimately each young woman must decide how far she will go to defy her Queen, risk her life, and find the safety and love she longs for.
In theory, a book about Lady Jane Grey’s younger sisters is really quite promising. Jane Grey herself is an interesting figure, of course, but there are a number of novels about here already in the world, whereas Katherine and Mary Grey are new ground. This premise, plus the fact that I did enjoy Elizabeth Fremantle’s debut, was incentive enough to pick up Sisters of Treason with the hope of exploring these women’s lives and, maybe, learning something I didn’t already know about the Tudor era (which is becoming increasingly difficult).
In short: I did learn some things from this book, but in terms of quality and enjoyability, this novel leaves much to be desired.
Sisters of Treason spans several decades, with the epilogue opening in 1554 and the prologue closing in 1572. Additionally, the novel rotates between three perspectives: Mary and Katherine Grey in first person, and family friend and painter, Levina Teerlinc, in third. For one thing, I certainly felt that Levina’s point of view was completely superfluous—her chapters added nothing to the overall narrative of the Grey sisters’ lives (though perhaps Levina deserves a novel of her own), thus inflating a novel already too long.
Mary and Katherine’s perspectives seemed more on point and relevant, which was nice, though Fremantle really struggled to draw a common thread out and sustain it throughout the text. While biographical fiction is a bit of a different case, it still stands that some sort of overarching plot/conflict is a good idea, but Sisters of Treason really lacks that. Often, individual chapters would seem entirely self-contained, giving the story a stilted, episodic feel to it. Furthermore, Mary and Katherine’s stories often felt very alien to each other. Obviously, they led separate lives and had separate interests, but the two women felt entirely disconnected and, really, only rarely interacted together on-page.
On the other hand, Fremantle’s research is certainly meticulous, and I enjoy the more unique perspective she brings to the scene. I’m extremely pleased that Frances Grey wasn’t cast as a screeching hag of a mother in this, and I also liked the more negative approach to Elizabeth I, which the author also employed in Queen’s Gambit (and, considering her next novel’s jacket copy, it would seem that Fremantle isn’t very fond of Elizabeth, which I find fascinating). I certainly like that Sisters of Treason explored lesser-known historical figures in a world that’s already oversaturated with Tudor fiction. It’s becoming more and more difficult to break new ground, but Fremantle has managed it here.
As I said, this book has a good concept but lackluster execution. All in all, I’m not wildly impressed with Sisters of Treason in terms of writing or storytelling quality, which casts a rather dark shadow on everything else the novel might have going for it. I certainly don’t think this was as good as the author’s debut novel, in any case.
