Kate Saunders of The Times says on the front of Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir ‘If you don’t cry at the end, you have a heart of stone’ So there you go, I have a heart of stone, in fact I’m as hard as nails – did I tell you I come from Glasgow?

Anyway, I knew the story of Lady Jane Grey so nothing was a surprise and for me that was the problem with this book, I think if you don’t know much about the subject then this is the book for you. I knew most of the history involved, if not all and I found the massive info dumps annoying.

The tale is told from several different characters’ perspectives and I don’t think that that was well done as they all had much the same voice as far as I was concerned’ which is definitely not something that happens with real people.

It is about one of the most tragic occurrences in English history, a young girl used and abused by the very people who should have nurtured and loved her most. That they only saw Jane as an object for their own advancement was shameful but probably not that surprising to the people around them at the time. In fact if you have a look at the news reports there are plenty of abusive parents around now.

That’s probably me being a right grumpy besom but I think for some reason I have a problem with Alison Weir as a fiction writer, I intend to have a go at one of her straight history books as I think I might prefer those. I see that her history books veer mainly towards the Tudor period, I fancy trying her Eleanor of Aquitane, but the question is – will she be as good a historian as Antonia Fraser? No doubt I’ll find out. Have you read any of her non-fiction books?