How long do I have?' I force a laugh Not long' he says very quietly They have confirmed your sentence of death You are to be beheaded tomorrow We don't have long at all' Jane Grey was Queen of England for nine days Using her position as cousin to the deceased king her father & his conspirators put her on the throne ahead of the king's half-sister Mary who quickly mustered an army claimed her crown & locked Jane in the Tower When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith Mary sent her to the executioner's block There Jane turned her father's greedy failed grab for power into her own brave & tragic martyrdom Learn you to die' is the advice that Jane gives in a letter to her younger sister Katherine who has no intention of dying She intends to enjoy her beauty & her youth & find love But her lineage makes her a threat to the insecure & infertile Queen Mary & when Mary dies to her sister Queen Elizabeth who will never allow Katherine to marry & produce a potential royal heir before she does So when Katherine's secret marriage is revealed by her pregnancy she too must go to the Tower Farewell my sister' writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister Mary A beautiful dwarf disregarded by the court Mary finds it easy to keep secrets especially her own while avoiding Elizabeth's suspicious glare After watching her sisters defy the queen Mary is aware of her own perilous position as a possible heir to the throne But she is determined to command her own destiny & be the last Tudor to risk her life in matching wits with her ruthless & unforgiving cousin Elizabeth Praise for Philippa Gregory Meticulously researched & deeply entertaining this story of betrayal & divided loyalties is Gregory on top form' Good Housekeeping Gregory has popularised Tudor history perhaps more than any other living fiction writerall of her books feature strong complex women doing their best to improve their lives in worlds dominated by men' Sunday Times Engrossing' Sunday Express Popular historical fiction at its finest immaculately researched & superbly told' The Times