The Last Tudor

Philippa Gregory

Aug 2017 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

The final book of the Tudor series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory features one of the most famous women in history, Lady Jane Grey, and her two sisters, each of whom dared to defy her queen.

Jane Grey was queen of England for nine days. Her father and his allies crowned her instead of the dead king’s half-sister Mary Tudor, who quickly mustered an army, claimed her throne, and locked Jane in the Tower of London. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner’s block, where Jane transformed her father’s greedy power-grab into tragic martyrdom.

“Learn you to die,” was the advice Jane wrote to her younger sister Katherine, who has no intention of dying. She intends to enjoy her beauty and her youth and fall in love. But she is heir to the insecure and infertile Queen Mary and then to her sister Queen Elizabeth, who will never allow Katherine to marry and produce a Tudor son. When Katherine’s pregnancy betrays her secret marriage, she faces imprisonment in the Tower, only yards from her sister’s scaffold.

“Farewell, my sister,” writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister, Mary. A beautiful dwarf, disregarded by the court, Mary keeps family secrets, especially her own, while avoiding Elizabeth’s suspicious glare. After seeing her sisters defy their queens, Mary is acutely aware of her own danger, but determined to command her own life. What will happen when the last Tudor defies her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Queen Elizabeth?

Ratings and reviews

I am voluntarily submitting my review after receiving an eARC of the novel from NetGalley. This novel is ostensibly about the Grey sisters--Jane, Katherine and Mary; however, all three Grey sisters are overshadowed by their cousin, Elizabeth who is portrayed as a terrible tyrant throughout the novel. While each of the Grey women is handled with care and sensitivity and is drawn with heartbreaking reality, Elizabeth seems unidimensional--almost a caricature like the mad queen of Lewis Carroll's imaginings. But while Elizabeth's fantastically mercurial personality comes across as too cruel to be real and honestly portrayed, it is highly likely that this is exactly how Elizabeth was perceived through the eyes of the Grey sisters from whose perspective the novel is written. As I read this book, each of the Grey sisters drew me in and inspired a whole range of feelings--sorrow for their plight and isolation, rage for the injustices done to them, elation for their ability find love and seize it with both hands--a veritable gamut of emotions. The book is ultimately about the darker side of human ambition and is by no means light-hearted, but it is nevertheless a fantastic novel and well worth the read.

Parts of this book is great and other parts tend to drag on. I have read almost all the books from this author and buy anything new from this author for the simple fact that I like the author. But I have to say that this is the only time it has taken me more than a couple days to finish reading it all. So this is why I say it's okay.

I love Phillapa Gregory I saw "The White Queen "on Starz absolutely loved it! I went to reading the book & saw White Princess. I knew that Margaret Boufert was mean.

About the author

Philippa Gregory is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. Many of her works have been adapted for the screen including The Other Boleyn Girl. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds honorary degrees from Teesside University and the University of Sussex. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction. She is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She was awarded a CBE title for services to literature and charity in 2022. She welcomes visitors to her website PhilippaGregory.com.