Giveaway THREE MAIDS FOR A CROWN by Ella March Chase

"In the second novel from Ella March Chase, we meet sixteen-year-old Jane Grey, a quiet and obedient young lady destined to become the shortest reigning English monarch. Her beautiful middle sister Katherine Grey charms all the right people—until loyalties shift. And finally Lady Mary Grey, a dwarf with a twisted spine whose goal is simply to protect people she loves—but at a terrible cost.

In an age in which begetting sons was all that mattered and queens rose and fell on the sex of their child, these three girls with royal Tudor blood lived under the dangerous whims of parents with a passion for gambling. The stakes they would wager: their daughters' lives against rampant ambition".

Amazon 
Three Maids for a Crown: A Novel of the Grey Sisters
The Virgin Queen's Daughter: A Novel

The giveaway is for THREE copies. This one is only open to the US. Giveaway ends August 26th 2011 at midnight west coast time.

For 1 entry enter your name and email
For 2 entries be a follower and say so in the form
For 3 entries share this and add a real link to where you shared it.

~Lizzy~

Today In History, Jane Grey looses Her Head

456 years ago on February 12th 1554 Jane Grey the nine days queen was beheaded by her own cousin Queen Mary Tudor. The hardest part for me to accept is that this poor girl did not even want the crown. She was a pawn in other peoples ambitious scams of taking controlling of the crown. Mostly her parents and her father in law, sadly her nasty mother did not even try to plead for her daughters life. Her husband Guilford Dudley was also executed in public earlier that day and her father was executed a week after Jane. I found this picture and it is stated that it is Jane Grey but in the caption it also say Jeane.

"Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the Queen's highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day."

The image on the left is one of Guilford Dudley

"She pleaded the axeman, "I pray you dispatch me quickly". Referring to her head, she asked, "Will you take it off before I lay me down?" and the axeman answered, "No, madam". She then blindfolded herself. Jane had resolved to go to her death with dignity, but once blindfolded, failing to find the block with her hands, began to panic and cried, "What shall I do? Where is it?" An unknown hand, possibly Feckenham's, then helped her find her way and retain her dignity at the end. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Jesus as recounted by Luke: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" She was then beheaded."

The "Jane" inscription in the Beauchamp Tower in the Tower of London

I had never noticed until just now that there is a woman throwing herself towards the wall like she just can not take it to watch Jane die. More than likely it is Jane's long time nurse who loved her like her own child.

New Release, The Sisters who would be Queen Mary, Katherine, and Jane Grey: A Tudor Tragedy By Leanda de Lisle

Releasing October 13, 2009 a long wait but looks like it will be worth it!
Mary, Katherine, and Jane Grey—sisters whose mere existence nearly toppled a dynasty and altered a nation’s destiny—are the captivating subjects of Leanda de Lisle’s new book. The Sisters Who Would Be Queen breathes fresh life into these three young women, who were players and victims in the violent and vicious world of Tudor power politics and whose heirs could otherwise be ruling England today. Born into aristocracy, the Grey sisters were the great-granddaughters of Henry VII, grandnieces to Henry VIII, legitimate successors to the English throne, and rivals to Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Lady Jane, the eldest, was thrust center stage by uncompromising religious politics when she briefly succeeded Henry’s son, the young Edward VI. Dubbed “the Nine Days Queen” after her short, tragic reign from the Tower of London, Jane has over the centuries earned a special place in the affections of the English people as an abused child and a “queen of the public heart.” But as de Lisle reveals, Jane was actually more rebel than victim, more leader than pawn, and Mary and Katherine Grey would have to tread carefully in order to avoid sharing their elder sister’s violent fate. Navigating the politics of the Tudor court after Jane’s death was a precarious challenge. Katherine Grey earned the trust of Mary I, only to risk her future with a love marriage that threatened Queen Elizabeth’s throne. Mary Grey, considered too petite and plain to be significant, looked for her own escape from the burden of her royal blood—an impossible task after she followed her heart and also incurred the queen’s envy, fear, and wrath. Exploding the many myths of Lady Jane Grey’s life, unearthing the details of Katherine’s and Mary’s dramatic stories, and casting new light on Elizabeth’s reign, Leanda de Lisle gives voice and resonance to the lives of the Greys and offers perspective on their place in history and on a time when a royal marriage could gain you a kingdom or cost you everything.