Review: Phoenix, Story of Jane Seymour by Gemma Lawrence

Blurb

May 1536
Queen Anne Boleyn has fallen and Jane Seymour is about to become Queen, yet the King’s new love is troubled not only by the fall and execution of his last wife and Queen, but by the creeping feeling that she knows not the man she has promised to marry.

As Jane steps into the palaces of the King, emerging quietly as England’s Queen, she finds herself haunted by thoughts of Anne Boleyn, Katherine of Aragon and what the past means for her own fate. And Jane is not the only one troubled by the actions of King Henry VIII. His people too have watched his actions in amazement, and they are about to express their discontent and fear, through the Pilgrimage of Grace…

My Review

The historical Jane Seymour was mostly uninspiring, and in this book she is more than aware of it. It hasn’t taken her long to realize she is little more than a brood mare—if lucky, that is—and the king has little time for her. Or interest. It’s just as well, for her early love for King Henry has transformed into fear for her life:

The man I had fallen in love with appeared to have vanished. It could be said I was grieving for the loss of him, whilst each day having to meet with and appease some person who wore his face, spoke with his voice. There was a revenant walking in the place of the man I had loved, and I had the uncomfortable feeling when I was with him that I was not looking at the man I loved anymore, but at something that had killed him, and assumed his form.

The more Jane learns about Henry, the guiltier she feels. She accepts responsibility for her role in Anne Boleyn’s fall, and her heart goes out to Princess Mary, whose life is ruined. At the same time, Jane’s whole existence is focused on whether she can bear him a child or not; while she is not pregnant, she is valueless. Once Jane becomes pregnant, if anything her life is worse. She isn’t allowed to ride, and can barely leave her room because the king fears she will lose the child. Throughout, she is kept company by the ghosts of Queen Katherine and Queen Anne, who speak to her both while awake and in her dreams. At first, Anne’s ghost is understandably caustic and bitter, but as Jane’s tribulations and attempts at courage progress, even Anne shows some sympathy. Written in first person, this book is full of Jane’s fears, guilt, and recriminations. We get a lot of descriptions but necessarily very little action. We are really inside her head, and her relationship with the ghosts of queens past seems almost more real than her day-to-day life.