"SISTERS OF TREASON, the second novel by Elizabeth Fremantle, is a story of love, politics and tragedy. Beginning early in Mary Tudor's turbulent reign, SISTERS OF TREASON explores the lives of a pair of sisters as dangerously close to the throne as their sister Lady Jane Grey, who died on the executioner's block at the age of 16, after being queen for nine days. After Jane's death, Lady Catherine becomes the focus of plots to thwart Mary Stuart's claim on England's throne. Catherine is a young woman driven by a compulsive and ultimately fatal desire to love and be loved. Clever Lady Mary is burdened with a crooked spine and a tiny stature in an age when physical perfection equates to goodness and vice versa. Both girls have inherited the Tudor blood that is more curse than blessing. It is court painter Levina Teerlinc who helps the girls survive Mary's reign, but when the Queen's sister, the hot-headed Elizabeth, inherits the crown, the world at court becomes increasingly treacherous for the Grey girls. For either girl to marry without the queen's permisison would be a potentially fatal political act, perceived as a treasonous grab for the throne, but Elizabeth is unlikely to let either girl ally herself and become an even more dangerous focus for her enemies. Each young woman must decide how far she will go to defy her queen and find the safety and love she longs for"--
The story is told by 3 people: Katherine Grey, Mary Grey and court painter Levina Teerlinc and it worked well for this book.
My favourite was definitely Mary and I really wished it could have ended happily for her. Being crook backed definitely didn’t make things easy for her and people can be so cruel. And yet she remained kind and gentle despite everything. Her sister’s death had deep impact on her and taught how dangerous it can be to have royal blood in your veins.
Katherine was the type that thinks with her heart and not with her head, and it can be dangerous when you’re so close to the throne. She was little shallow and empty headed and I wished she would have listened Mary’s warnings. Her chapters were my least favourite and I think the weakest link in the book.
I really liked how the sisters’ mother Frances Grey was portrayed. She was shown as caring and loving mother who deeply mourned her daughter and it was nice to see her friendship with Levina who was “just” a court painter and not noble born.
This was truly enjoyable book and I look forward reading The Queen’s Gambit which I already own.
