THE SISTERS WHO WOULD BE QUEEN by Leanda de Lisle, 2008.

Historian de Lisle's account of the Grey sisters: Jane, Katherine, and Mary, Tudor descendants with a strong claim to the English throne. Probably everyone knows the story of the tragic Lady Jane Grey, the "Nine Days Queen", either from history or from the film "Lady Jane", but many may not be familiar with her sisters. Descended from Henry VII, they were great-nieces of Henry VIII through his sister Mary, who was married to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. As such, their very existence was disturbing and troublesome. Their cousin, fanatically Protestant Edward I, made Protestant Jane his heir (instead of his sisters Mary and Elizabeth) in hopes that she would continue his plans for reforming England. A coup placed her on the throne, and after her short reign and execution at the age of 16 at the hands of Queen Mary, her two sisters were kept close at court. Katherine, lovely and somewhat flighty, managed to contract a secret marriage with Edward Seymour (nephew of Henry VIII's third wife), and have two sons by him, which made her a very real threat to Elizabeth I, who was both unmarried and childless. Forced to separate from her husband and older child and kept under house arrest, Katherine pretty much starved herself to death by the age of 28. Mary, the last sister, made her own secret marriage, was discovered and paid a sad price as well. Their story is one of greed and power, manipulation, religious unrest, loss of personal freedom, bloodthirsty plots, very little happiness, and terrible destinies. De Lisle provides new interpretations on Jane's story, gives new information on her sisters, and interweaves their lives against the unsettled era of the Tudors, including the stories of other potential rivals for the throne like Mary Queen of Scots, the Countess of Lennox, and the Earl of Huntington, as well as another cousin of the Greys', Lady Margaret Clifford. While I found that I didn't always agree on her interpretations of things, it was still an interesting book on the Tudor era and it was good to read a more full account on the other two Grey sisters.