Would have given this a four and a half stars if available.  No five because of the last chapter dealing with the treatment of Lady Jane Grey in the centuries following her death in the popular culture. Why do these scholarly authors think they need to throw that in at the end?  Eric Ives is so respected, wrote an excellent book on the subject but still felt compelled to discuss that. Too weird.

Okay, for the text of the book. Ives gives strong evidence to support his theories of why Lady Jane became queen and so quickly was dethroned.  The book could have been a joint title of Mary and Jane, since the two subjects have to be dealt with extensively to understand the other. 

Ives presents sensible arguements for why Mary was prepared (when her unsure character made it seem almost impossible) to claim power after Edward’s death and why the ‘governement’ switched loyalites so quickly.

I’ll spare you all the details but will admit that I took notes on the text it was so compelling.