I didn’t expect much from this title because I’d read about these people many times before and knew it all, or so I thought. Big surprise. De Lisle does a marvelous job of debunking the nonsense of intervening historians and liars, and getting at what is true about the Brandon family line. She has consulted and compared original sources so we don’t have to, even seeking out the advice of fellow scholars such as Eric Ives. This is high-quality, factual historical synthesis.

I had not realized before just how much Katherine Grey was a figure for opposition to Elizabeth to rally around. Or just how organized and persistent Grey’s supporters were. Even though she as a person was nonpolitical and completely harmless, unlike the brilliant and committed evangelical Jane. That’s just one of the insights of this book, backed up by the author’s careful research.

I also find the reclaiming of Frances Brandon’s reputation from cruel mother to loving parent very plausible. As well as her continued dynastic importance long after Jane Grey’s execution. From the distance of history we have counted Frances out because we know her male children all died. But at the time, she could still have produced a son whose claim to the throne would have been backed by both Henry VIII’s and Edward VI’s wills. Since de Lisle makes it clear that Elizabeth always preferred the claim that Mary Stuart had to the English throne, a male heir of the Brandon line would have been a big problem for Elizabeth. No wonder she did everything she could to keep her female cousins from marrying, and to pretend that Katherine Grey’s marriage never happened and her boy babies were bastards.

Anyone fascinated as I am with the Tudor century will find riches in this book.