I read this with interest most of the way through, and enjoyed the stories about the occupations of gentlewoman who had servants for the most onerous work, but still working hard on brewing medicine, sewing, and preparations for the various festivals celebrated throughout the year. It does a wonderful job with characterizations; John and Margery Seymour had quite a few children, and Dunn gives them all a few minutes on the stage. I thought this should have been a little shorter, particularly as it focuses more and more on Katharine's moods while her husband Edward was at war. I thought it was generally well-written, but the more I think about it, the less I think of it. I try to keep in mind that this is told from Jane's point of view, and therefore may have things which may not be objectively true, but may seem true from her point of view. Toward the end it simplifies history a bit for effect, but perhaps Jane didn't want to think about the things, including the hazards of marrying a man whose treatment of his first two wives stunned Europe. At the end, even many of those who disliked Anne thought she was being railroaded, what with Henry spending so much time with Mistress Seymour. Hence the famous, if possibly apocryphal statement of Christina, Duchess of Milan, that she would be happy to marry Henry if only she had two necks. Perhaps Jane comforted herself that being from a large family, she was sure to produce a healthy boy.

The book begins with Jane waiting to hear the cannon shot that will mark Anne Boleyn's execution, and reflecting back to the entry of Katharine Falliol into the Seymours' lives and the subsequent tragedy, the bulk of the book. Jane is then sent to court to serve as an attendant to Katharine of Aragon, who is fighting Henry VIII's attempt to annul their marriage. Jane returns home after Queen Katharine's household is broken up. Henry VIII, now married to Anne Boleyn, visits Wolf Hall (or Wulfhall) and is attracted to Jane. Dunn leaps from that meeting to Jane's waiting for the cannon firing that will announce Anne's death, skipping over the part when Henry brings Jane to court as one of Anne's attendants, with his typical tactlessness or cruelty. If Anne's marriage to Henry, and Katharine's to Edward Seymour, were short, as Jane reflects, hers was even shorter, but since she died giving birth to the long-awaited son, she was honored above all his other wives with a queen's funeral and a burial next to him. Jane Seymour and Katharine Parr were the only two of Henry's wives that he didn't discard, although he threatened them both, but Katharine outlived him. Incidentally, the two would become sisters-in-law after Jane's and Henry's deaths when Katharine hastily married Jane's brother Thomas, another brief marriage.

Dunn also credits Jane with reconciling Henry to his daughter Mary, which she certainly wanted to do, but leaves out the critical submission to Henry that Mary signed (while secretly issuing a protest), in which she acknowledged that her parents' marriage was invalid and Henry was the head of the English church. Certainly Jane's goodwill must have been a welcome balm to Mary after all her sufferings; between that and her submission, she returned to court and her treatment by her father improved, but Henry would still make Mary's life so difficult that she would refer to herself as “the unhappiest lady in Christendom.”

In the end, Dunn posits that Jane's understanding of the shame of men who make mistakes about women is what draws Henry VIII to her, and makes her queen of England. Well, that and the fact that Anne suffered the miscarriage of a male fetus the next January. I suspect that if Anne had delivered a healthy son in 1536, Mistress Jane would have been on her way back to Wolf Hall. And who does Jane regard as having shamed himself by making a mistake over a woman? Henry and Anne, obviously, he would later refer to her as his Great Folly. What about the men in her family, though? It might be necessary to ask if she is referring to feeling shame over bad conduct, or being shamed in front of other people, whether one is guilty or not, or both.

Here begins a spoiler, if you aren't already familiar with the story. Reading the notes, given after the novel, is a good reminder of how skimpy the historical evidence often is. Dunn tells us that while the idea that young John was not Edward Seymour's son, although he was the son of a male Seymour, and that Katharine was repudiated and sent to a nunnery would tie all the available facts together, it is not directly stated in any records. In the next century, someone would annotate a book of the peerage with a note claiming that Katharine had an affair with her father-in-law, John Seymour.

One does have to wonder why it took Edward so long to decide that Katharine had had an affair; the scenario in this book is a one-night stand with his hostile, jealous brother Thomas. He is supposed to have become fatally suspicious because he found poems that his father wrote to Katharine, at her request. But if John Seymour was innocent, what would these poems have said – not every poem is about love? "I'm glad my son married a lovely, charming woman, and we so enjoy having her in the family," would seem innocuous, particularly with Thomas around as another suspect. Dunn never discusses John or Margery Seymour's reactions to these false, within this story, accusations; they just disappear. Did they, like Katharine, decide to protect Thomas?

If Edward is one of the men who has made a mistake over a woman, is that by marrying Katharine or repudiating her? In that time, Edward would have been considered to have been shamed by being cuckolded, and considered partially responsible for his inability to control his wife; her adultery was regarded as an affront to the community, not just her husband. Repudiating an unfaithful wife who might still be carrying on her affair with a relative probably wouldn't have been considered shameful, although it, of course, would have been embarrassing to have the sordid story publicly known. If he later realized that he had falsely accused his father, that would have shamed him, but there is no indication of that. Is Jane thinking of Thomas Seymour, who cuckolded his brother, although he probably enjoyed doing so? Would Thomas have felt shame for not speaking up and letting his innocent father take the blame, or for participating in Katharine's downfall?

Dunn ends with Jane reflecting that she will now have the power to seek out Katharine, if she decides to do so. She might have had to seek out a grave. Divorce did not necessarily permit remarriage, which may be one of the reasons Henry favored annulments and executions. Wikipedia notes that Edward married Anne Stanhope the year before this, which likely indicates that Katharine died before that, and Jane would have known, of course. I don't mean to be too picky here -- we don't actually know that Katharine died, so if Dunn wants to end her story another way, that reveals Jane's confidence in her new found power, it's fine with me. ( )

This novel will likely frustrate those who have come to expect historical fiction about Tudor court figures to feature lots of political and sexual intrigue. This is a deeply interior, psychological novel about Jane Seymour, focusing on her relationship with and observations of her sister-in-law Katherine and the breakdown of Katherine's marriage to Jane's older brother, Edward. The emotional reverberations feel frustratingly subtle in some ways, but I also appreciated them as authentic to how a sheltered teenage girl might experience such a relationship. And it is an audacious re-set to consider that the most important event in Jane Seymour's life, from her perspective, might not have been catching the eye of the king but instead witnessing and in some ways participating in the failure of her brother's marriage. ( )

An interesting and (likely overdue) novel about Jane Seymour's youth, which included the potentially scandalous marriage between her older brother Edward and Katherine Filliol. Katherine is alleged to have conducted an affair with Jane and Edward's father - an affair which eventually led to the dissolution of the marriage between Katherine and Edward. Jane narrates this story as she tells of her role as observer, but she is not always certain of what she is observing and struggles to understand Katherine's behavior. Jane's own marriage to Henry VIII becomes little more than an afterthought, although the scandal of her youth does flavor Jane's impression of the royal court and the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. While not my favorite, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Tudor-era historical fiction. ( )

3.5 Queen Jane looks back on the scandal that almost derailed her family. Wolf Hall and Jane is fifteen when her older brother returns with his new wife. She quickly makes friends with Jane, an action that leads the shy Jane into various confidences and adventures.

Never knew how hard the people who lived in the Manors had to work. All the festivals, celebrations and only days required almost superhuman effort. Was a very interesting and quiet read. Interesting to read about Many Seymour's early life and that of her family. A different take on the usual Tudor novel. ( )

Out of all of King Henry’s wives, Jane Seymour appears to be the least flashy. She didn’t have to fight for her marriage like Catherine of Aragon did. Her rise and fall was not spectacularly public and quick. She was not quickly set aside and made a “sister”. She was not executed. She was not accused of adultery, bigamy, witchcraft, or anything else. She married the king, bore him a son, the only one to survive infancy, and died two weeks later. While she is the only one to be buried next to the king and the only wife of his who received a queen’s funeral, for all the success of her marriage to the volatile king, her strict decorum and plainness makes her the least impressionable of all of his wives. However, Suzannah Dunn’s The May Bride attempts to change that by placing Jane in the spotlight.

Unfortunately, even in her own story, someone else steals the story. The May Bride is not so much about Jane as it is about Jane’s sister-in-law, Katherine Filliol, and Jane’s varied reactions to her as she settles into the family nest. Jane herself is very loyal, very quiet, and disdainful of scandal. However, Katherine proves to be just the opposite and constantly shocks Jane with her less controlled behavior and unorthodox approach to life. Jane becomes obsessed with Katherine’s unconventionality, simultaneously admiring her and judging her for it. The impression readers will get is that the family scandal around Katherine and Edward provided the framework by which she judged Anne Boleyn and modeled her own royal marriage.

However, as is often the case with relatively obscure historical figures, no one knows just how much of The May Bride is true, especially when it comes to the scandal that tears apart the family and sets Jane directly on her path to becoming the queen consort. A quick Internet search will show readers just how much of the story is pure speculation on the part of Ms. Dunn, and high percent of fiction in this historical fiction novel may cause some readers to pause. The accusations made in the book are damning without adequate proof, potentially causing readers further concern for the liberties taken in an effort to tell a good story. In that aspect, The May Bride bears comparison against Philippa Gregory’s Tudor canon. Both seem to have a fondness for sacrificing history for a more interesting storyline.

Thankfully, that is where the similarities end. Of the two, Ms. Dunn is a much better storyteller, and her depiction of life in Wolf Hall is vividly mundane and definitely more realistic. She shows the sheer volume of work involved with running a manor, and the list of Jane’s daily chores is daunting. More importantly, Ms. Dunn does not attempt to beautify anything. There is frank talk of fleas in bedding, dogs and their messes left around the property, chamber pots, and other functions not typically discussed in novels. It is a refreshing bit of honesty in a story that is a bit too eager to scandalize readers based on loose interpretations of what little facts exist.

For all its faults, The May Bride is still an entertaining novel. The descriptions of life at Wolf Hall alone are worth the read because they are among the relative few to detail the tedium of life on the land and the amount of work that goes into that life. Jane is naive, young, and self-righteous, but one finds this plays well into her future roles as lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon and queen consort after Anne’s demise. The amount of time Jane spends obsessing about her sister-in-law and the damage to the family may be tedious but still provides the background for getting to know this quiet, plain future queen consort.