The Boy King

by Janet Wertman

Overview

One of Open Letters Review's Ten Best Historical Novels of 2020; First Place Winner, 2021 Chaucer Award for pre-1750s historical fiction

"Highly recommend both as a standalone and series read. Wertman's work is among the best Tudor fiction on the market" - Historical Fiction Reader

His mother, Jane Seymour, died at his birth. Now his father, King Henry VIII, has died as well. Nine-year old Edward Tudor ascends to the throne of England and quickly learns that he cannot trust anyone, even himself.

Struggling to understand the political and religious turmoil that threatens the realm, Edward is at first relieved that his uncle, the new Duke of Somerset, will act on his behalf as Lord Protector, but this consolation evaporates as jealousy spreads through the court. Challengers arise on all sides to wrest control of the child king, and through him, England.

While Edward can bring frustratingly little direction to the Council's policies, he refuses to abandon his one firm conviction: that Catholicism has no place in England. When Edward falls ill, this steadfast belief threatens England's best hope for a smooth succession: the transfer of the throne to Edward's very Catholic half-sister, Mary Tudor, whose heart's desire is to return the realm to the way it worshipped in her mother's day.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162928119
Publisher:	Janet Wertman
Publication date:	09/30/2020
Series:	The Seymour Saga , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	315,715
File size:	977 KB

About the Author

Janet Wertman grew up within walking distance of three bookstores and a library on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – and she visited all of them regularly. Her grandfather was an antiquarian bookdealer who taught her that there would always be a market for quirky, interesting books. He was the one who persuaded Janet’s parents to send her to the French school where she was taught to aspire to long (grammatically correct) sentences as the hallmark of a skillful writer. She lived that lesson until she got to Barnard College. Short sentences were the rule there. She complied. She reached a happy medium when she got to law school – complicated sentences alternating with short ones in a happy mix.

Janet spent fifteen years as a corporate lawyer in New York, she even got to do a little writing on the side (she co-authored The Executive Compensation Answer Book, which was published by Panel Publishers back in 1991). But when her first and second children were born, she decided to change her lifestyle. She and her husband transformed their lives in 1997, moving to Los Angeles and changing careers. Janet became a grantwriter (and will tell anyone who will listen that the grants she’s written have resulted in more than $35 million for the amazing non-profits she is proud to represent) and took up writing fiction.

There was never any question about the topic of the fiction: Janet has harbored a passion for the Tudor Kings and Queens since her parents let her stay up late to watch the televised Masterpiece Theatre series (both The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R) when she was *cough* eight years old. One of the highlights of Janet’s youth was being allowed to visit the Pierpont Morgan Library on a day when it was closed to the public and examine (though not touch!) books from Queen Elizabeth’s personal library and actual letters that the young Princess Elizabeth (technically Lady Elizabeth…) had written.

With the Seymour Saga is complete, Janet is deep into writing the first book of her next trilogy, which takes up where the Seymours left off to illustrate the life of Elizabeth I - and she is getting ready to publish her translation of a nineteenth century biography of Henry later this year. Janet also runs a blog where she posts interesting takes on the Tudors, and she participates in panels and discussions through History Talks!, a group of historical novelists from Southern California who work with libraries around the state.

Editorial Reviews

The conclusion to The Seymour Saga is a sheer delight...Wertman has created a magnificent window into the lives of the Seymour family, and 'The Boy King' is the piece de resistance of the entire series.

Adventures of a Tudor Nerd - N/A

Terrific...Electric characters being driven by dialogue...better than 95% of the Tudor fiction that's been written in the last twenty years

Book reviewer for the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, and The National - Steve Donoghue