Book review of The Favored Queen, by Carolly Erickson

Johnson, Sarah L.

English

The Keep

Eastern Illinois University
The Keep
Faculty Research & Creative Activity Booth Library
November 2011
The Favored Queen, by Carolly Erickson
Sarah L. Johnson
Eastern Illinois University, sljohnson2@eiu.edu
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Johnson, Sarah L., "The Favored Queen, by Carolly Erickson" (2011). Faculty Research & Creative Activity. 16.
http://thekeep.eiu.edu/lib_fac/16
Book Review  
 
The Favored Queen. 
Erickson, Carolly (author). 
Nov. 2011. 295p. St. Martin’s, hardcover, $25.99 (9780312596903). 
 
Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII and the one he reportedly loved the best, takes 
the stage in this self-described “historical entertainment.” As a noblewoman in the early 
sixteenth century, Jane serves as maid of honor first to pious, devoted Catherine of 
Aragon and later to Anne Boleyn, whose petulant and proud nature endears her to few 
members of the harsh royal court. Jane’s lively first-person narrative follows her 
transformation from passive observer to active participant in the marital stakes. Her 
family’s immoral conduct and her failed engagement to a family friend test her resolve, 
yet she survives and emerges triumphant as one of the king’s closest confidants. One 
well-crafted subplot involves the Nun of Kent, a prophetess who curses Henry’s marriage 
to Queen Anne. As Erickson alludes in her author’s note, significant parts of the story are 
wholly invented. One of these, Jane’s affair with a handsome French glazier, isn’t exactly 
believable, either. Overall, this is a light diversion likely to appeal to fans of The Tudors.  
— Sarah Johnson 
 
First published in Booklist, November 15, 2011, p.28 


The Favored Queen, by Carolly Erickson

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The Favored Queen, by Carolly Erickson

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