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The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford
Ballantine Books
January 2008
On Sale: December 26, 2007
Featuring: Jane Boleyn
400 pages ISBN: 0345485416 EAN: 9780345485410 Hardcover
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Fiction | Historical
In a life of extraordinary drama, Jane Boleyn was catapulted
from relative obscurity to the inner circle of King Henry
VIII. As powerful men and women around her became victims of
Henry’s ruthless and absolute power, including her own
husband and sister-in-law, Queen Anne Boleyn, Jane’s
allegiance to the volatile monarchy was sustained and
rewarded. But the price for her loyalty would eventually be
her undoing and the ruination of her name. For centuries,
little beyond rumor and scandal has been associated with
“the infamous Lady Rochford.” But now historian Julia Fox
sets the record straight and restores dignity to this
much-maligned figure whose life and reputation were taken
from her. Born to aristocratic parents in the English countryside,
young Jane Parker found a suitable match in George Boleyn,
brother to Anne, the woman who would eventually be the
touchstone of England’s greatest political and religious
crisis. Once settled in the bustling, spectacular court of
Henry VIII as the wife of a nobleman, Jane was privy to the
regal festivities of masques and jousts, royal births and
funerals, and she played an intimate part in the drama and
gossip that swirled around the king’s court. But it was Anne Boleyn’s descent from palace to prison that
first thrust Jane into the spotlight. Impatient with Anne’s
inability to produce a male heir, King Henry accused the
queen of treason and adultery with a multitude of men,
including her own brother, George. Jane was among those
interrogated in the scandal, and following two swift strokes
from the executioner’s blade, she lost her husband and her
sister-in-law, her inheritance and her place in court society. Now the thirty-year-old widow of a traitor, Jane had to
ensure her survival and protect her own interests by
securing land and income. With sheer determination, she
navigated her way back into royal favor by becoming
lady-in-waiting to Henry’s three subsequent brides, Jane
Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Howard. At last
Jane’s future seemed secure–until an unwitting misstep
involving the sexual intrigues of young Queen Catherine
destroyed the life and reputation Jane worked so hard to
rebuild. Drawing upon her own deep knowledge and years of original
research, Julia Fox brings us into the inner sanctum of
court life, laced with intrigue and encumbered by disgrace.
Through the eyes and ears of Jane Boleyn, we witness the
myriad players of the stormy Tudor period. Jane emerges as a
courageous spirit, a modern woman forced by circumstances to
fend for herself in a privileged but vicious world.
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