This is the third in the author's six novel series tracing the lives of Henry VIII's six wives. Jane Seymour was less significant as a political figure than her two predecessors and I had expected this to be a shorter novel, but it wasn't, though didn't feel at all overblown, given the consistent quality of Weir's writing. The novel covers her early life and the slow build up of her life at court first as a maid to Katharine of Aragon, then her frustration and dislike at the rise of Anne Boleyn, and the King's meeting and growing interest in her. At a purely human level, I can see why Henry was attracted to Jane's quieter and more amenable personality after the volatile Anne. Jane is not directly complicit in the horrific and dramatic events of April-May 1536 when Anne Boleyn was brought down, but of course she directly benefits and quickly marries Henry and becomes Queen. The King definitely genuinely loves her, and tolerates her attempts to soften the harsh edge of many of his actions, most famously, though unsuccessfully, over the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion and the dissolution of the monasteries. In this novel Jane has one or two miscarriages before giving birth to the long awaited heir, the future King Edward VI, before tragically dying a few days later. In an afterword, the author explains how she has interpreted evidence about Jane's health and other developments to reconstruct the idea of the miscarriages and the causes of her sudden death. She thinks Jane died of a pulmonary embolism, exacerbated by weakness caused by food poisoning and the strains of childbirth (so it apparently wasn't a death in childbirth per se, or puerperal fever). A great read, with a tragic ending that left me feeling sad, even though of course totally anticipated. ( )

I have read the first two books in this series and had a difficult time getting through both. When I started the third book, I was hoping for a better experience, but I was unable to proceed. I am terribly disappointed but feel that others would be able to give a fairer report on the book than I. I will not be reading the remainder of the series. ( )

Didn't know much about the 3rd wife of Henry the Eighth but this was a thorough review of her life. Terrific vacation read during the holidays. ( )

This fictional biography of Jane Seymour is over 500 pages long and should have been cut by about 200 pages. I really don't think it's necessary to know every single, minute detail of her everyday life. It got boring after a while. You have to really love reading about royal history in order to finish this book - and I guess I do because I did. On to the next volume - Anna of Cleve. ( )

This is slow and boring. Weir's fiction is generally considerably worse than her non-fiction. I didn't much care for the first volume in this series about Katherine of Aragon but somewhat liked the book about Anne Boleyn. This is just a miss.
I did appreciate the portrayl of Jane as the hypocrite she was. Her treatment of Anne is callous and her attachment to Lady Mary doesn't clean that up. ( )