The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The May Bride is the story of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII and is a fascinating read, giving as it does an insight into the life of Jane and some of the reasons why she ended up as bride to the notorious King.
From my point of view Jane Seymour seems to be portrayed in other historical novels as one of the least well-known and unimportant of Henry’s wives, certainly one of the less notorious, so it was very interesting to read about the young girl who ended up as Queen. In my previous reading and indeed history lessons, Jane was important only as the mother of the heir to the throne, the only wife who produced a son. Besides the sharp intelligence and wily mind of Anne Boleyn, the unswerving devotion of Katharine of Aragon and the precociousness of childish Katherine Howard, the quiet and gentle nature of Jane Seymour was a sharp and calming contrast and probably did render her invisible much of the time.
The May Bride starts when Jane is fifteen, a quiet and dutiful daughter of a large but happy family, residing at Wolf Hall. The May Bride in this instance is her brother Edward’s bride, Katherine; twenty-one and beautiful, a shining, golden light in the humdrum of life at Wolf Hall, naturally the young Jane is instantly besotted and as life progresses Jane finds herself becoming the devoted confidante of flighty Katherine, a role that will, within two short years, spell disaster for the Seymour family.
It is grown up Jane who tells the story of those years at Wolf Hall, reflecting back on those days on the eve of her own wedding. Did she miss the ambitions that Edward had to rise in the court ranks? What of the rivalry between brothers? And when Katherine walked through the doors of Wolf Hall, was there any sign, could anyone know, of what would occur? At that time the only thing Jane herself was sure of was that no one would ever want to marry her, for who would want a dull and dutiful wife when there are women like Katherine to be had. But even then, Jane harboured a dream to be Queen, even if it was just to get out of the cleaning.
The voice of young Jane is innocent and even as she misses the rivalry between her brothers Thomas and Edward she senses a distance between Katherine and Edward, a distance that leads Katherine to befriend her father in law and ultimately to the fall of the family which in turn leads to Jane going to court to serve Queen Katherine and then Anne Boleyn and gives fuel to her old ambition to be Queen herself. It is interesting how the Jane at the end of this story changes to that of a more calculating and worldly person and it is for the reader to decide whether Jane was a pawn in her brother’s constant machinations to please the King or whether she herself saw an opportunity and took it.
It really is a fascinating and insightful story; the ruthlessness and ambitions of centuries ago have not much changed through the years and neither have the emotions and longings of young girls dreaming of love. Suzannah Dunn portrays Tudor life away from court as almost idyllic, there is warmth in the Seymour family, a large, unruly bunch of children going about their chores and studies, living in hand-me- downs and loved by their parents, laughing at the old priest and squabbling among themselves. But when ambition begins to play a part that idyll is shot apart and the voice of Jane reminiscing is a little lonely and maybe longing for what was lost, there certainly seems to me a definite change from the happiness of youth to the sadness and loneliness that came after which makes her fulfilling her ambition to become Queen a little bitter and ruthless. I think it is certainly true to say that Jane lost her naivety that summer long ago and that it changed the person she was and would have been had scandal not occurred.
The writing is enthralling and spirits the reader away to past times and lives with ease, it is not hard to imagine yourself there, a silent observer in the corner of Wolf Hall as their lives unravel and it is a novel that gripped my imagination and fed my knowledge of the Tudors and the main players of that time.