Every time I picked up "Jane Seymour", I was whisked back in time to the Tudor Era, and learning something new about Jane Seymour, those around her, and the lift and times in which she lived.

Carol-Ann Johnston's biography of Jane Seymour, who became the third wife of King Henry VIII, is very well-detailed and researched. I felt immersed in the history of the time period.

Jane was such a strong, kind, and brave woman. This book talks about the Seymour's family origin and some history, through Jane becoming Queen of England and her devastating death. So many historical figures are talked about throughout this non-fiction read, and how they are tied to Jane's story in one way or another is explored.

I found the images throughout to really add another layer to this book as well!

If you enjoy biographies, learning about Royalty, and / or anything dealing with The Tudor Era, I highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pen & Sword History for the ARC of this biography! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Whilst I enjoyed the history of this book, it did not seem to be all about Jane Seymour. It also included the other two Queens who came before her in quite a bit of detail.

Also at times, there seemed to be parts where the author guessed at what was felt at the time which was quite disappointing - it felt at times like a novel rather than non-fiction.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I can happily say that I know more about Jane Seymour than I did before reading this book but found myself wanting more. It was about Jane surrounded by people who get a lot of press. I wanted an in-depth look at a queen that history has pushed to the side but it was a more ensemble cast than I expected. The info was good but it varied on the individuals. The chapters were full but it wasn’t direct. I felt like I read the last page and was left with so many questions. The big plus to this book was all of the pictures and portraits that were scattered throughout the whole book.

I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

Jane Seymour - Release Date: August 30, 2023, & Sword, History

About the Author: Carol-Ann Johnston was born and raised in Carlisle where she developed a love of Tudor history, especially Henry VIII’s wives. She runs the Facebook page Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s Third Wife page on Facebook when she is not working for the NHS as a Patient Care Advisor.

From the Publisher: Jane Seymour is the wife of Henry VIII we know the least about, often written off as ‘Plain Jane’. Queen of England for just seventeen months, during her life Jane witnessed some of the most extraordinary events ever to take place in English history, later becoming a part of them. Jane ensured her place in Henry’s affections by giving him his much longed for male heir only to tragically lose her life twelve days later leaving behind a motherless son and a devastated husband. For the remainder of his life Henry would honor the mother of his only legitimate son and would come to regard Jane as his ‘true and loving wife’.
But who was Jane Seymour? Throughout this illustrated book we will find a woman who was either saint or sinner, but a human being with her own beliefs and causes.

My Thoughts: Jane Seymour by Carol-Ann Johnston is a wonderful, engaging historical book set during Jane’s time at court and her short reign as King Henry’s wife and Queen. It is very clear the author meticulously researched this era and it made this book such a delight to read!

I appreciated the author’s comments as they were very helpful and interesting. I loved looking at the beautiful pictures included in this book as well. Overall, I highly recommend reading this book!

5 Stars!

I received this book for free. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are my own. Thank you to Carol-Ann Johnston, Pen & Sword, History Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

Please note that Amazon will not accept any reviews to be posted on until it is this book's release day - 10.12.23. You can find this review -posted on Amazon as of 10.12.23.

This book provides a history of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife and potentially "his favorite." I Liked all of the illustrations in the book. I found it very interesting, with not a lot of material to work with, so the author did a good job of discussing Jane Seymour's life and her short reign. It was a little wandering at some points, and I wish the author made more concrete connections or made it more clear about why she was discussing different parts of history and how it connected to Jane. I would recommend the book if you want to learn more about the Tudor time period.

Jane Seymour is one of the least written about of Henry VIII's six wives, mainly for the fact that relatively little is known about her compared to say Anne Boleyn or Catherine of Aragon. Known chiefly for being the quiet, dutiful wife who finally provided Henry with a male heir before tragically dying shortly afterwards, little evidence of what Jane was actually like survives. This means that a lot of what is written is guesswork, in that she 'probably' did or said this or that it is 'reasonable to assume' such & such.

I thought the author made the best of what is available & I did learn one or two things I wasn't aware of from this book. I never realised that she was staunchly Catholic & that she pleaded in vain with Henry to save several monasteries & convents during the Reformation. I also never knew that she was considered homely - I assumed that to catch Henry's fickle eye, she would have been a court beauty but apparently not, & it is rumoured that Henry was ungallant enough to remind her of this shortly after their wedding. One can only imagine what a nerve-wracking & stressful experience it must have been to be aware that your position as Queen is precarious & rested upon producing a male heir & if not, that your very life could be on the chopping block - literally.

I enjoyed the book but felt that some of the photographs used were a little repetitive, although I appreciated the photographs of the window & sealed door to what would have been Jane's bedchamber when she retired from private life before the birth of Edward. The possibility of this room being opened again after it has so long been sealed away from public view is intriguing. Overall, this was an interesting & informative read but perhaps one that I wouldn't be in a hurry to re-read. 3.5 stars (rounded down)

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Pen & Sword History, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Jane Seymour is probably the most enigmatic of Henry VIII’s wives. However little is known conclusively about her life. The author’s work contains at lot of “possibly”, “not unlikely”, conjecture. The writing style is a little ponderous times. Jane Seymour cemented her place in British history by giving Henry the son he longed for, although ultimately it cost her her life. I have mixed feelings about this book. I appreciate the valiant effort to bring Jane to life
I have loved the Tudor period of history since the age of 11/12. This has clearly been a passion project for the author. But for me it felt a little dry and often dull.

Jane Seymour is perhaps Henry VIII’s most overlooked and underestimated wife, so any new biography that brings attention to this woman is always welcome in my book.

One of the things I admire about Johnston’s work is that she admits to the gaps in the source material; often, authors try to gloss over these gaps by filling them in with general information about life in the 16th century, or by theorising based on the scantest of evidence. Whilst the author does do the work of the historian by analysing and interpreting the sources we do have, she acknowledges that there are things that we simply do not, and perhaps cannot, know.

There are some fascinating details that Johnston sheds light on, which I had not really read anything about previously. In an early chapter, there is an interesting discussion about evidence that suggests Jane had at least one or two suitors prior to capturing the King’s interest. I also was unaware that Edward inherited some of his mother’s possessions, which is such a touching detail.

Finally, I must talk about the illustrations. They bring new life to the biography, allowing readers to feel like they know Jane and the people around her that little bit more.

Overall, this biography of Jane Seymour was an enjoyable, informative read. My thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

#JaneSeymour #NetGalley

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. I love everything about Tudor history. There is really not a lot of books about Jane Seymour and also Katherine Parr. So I was excited to read this novel. The author did a great job with the research and I learned a few new things about his 3rd wife. I highly recommend this novel for all history buffs especially Tudor history fans.

King Henry VIII's six wives each have their unique story that transcends time. Katherine of Aragon was his first wife, the mother of Mary Tudor, and the one Henry left behind after 24 years to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn, the most famous of his wives and the mother of Elizabeth Tudor. Anna of Cleves had the shortest marriage to Henry VIII and ended up with an excellent annulment deal. Catherine Howard was young and a bit naive when it came to the ways of men, which led to her downfall while Catherine Parr survived until the end of Henry VIII’s reign. These five women are stories we know by heart, but the one whose story remains a mystery is Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife, and the mother of the future King Edward VI. In her debut book, “Jane Seymour: An Illustrated Life” Carol-Ann Johnston tells the story of the wife who gave Henry his desired son.

I want to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. Jane Seymour is someone who I have wanted to learn more about ever since I started studying the Tudors. When I heard that the founder of the Jane Seymour- Henry VIII’s Third Wife was turning her research into a book, I knew I wanted to read it.

Johnston begins by tracing the origins of the Seymour family to the town of Touraine, Saint-Maur-sur-Loire, and a man named Richard de St. Maur from the 7th and 8th centuries. She then traces the family to John Seymour, the Sheriff of Hampshire, the one who inherited Wolf Hall, and the grandfather of Jane Seymour. Johnston also explores how Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Howard were related, as they were all half-second cousins. Sir John and Margery Seymour had a large family with at least 9 children including Jane, Thomas, and Edward, who would play important roles in the Tudor court.

The bulk of this particular book explores the time Jane Seymour spent at the Tudor court, starting with her time with Katherine of Aragon, exploring her relationship with Anne Boleyn, and finally her time as Queen of England. We get to see how she dealt with big events in the reign of Henry VIII like the Great Matter, the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Johnston also explores what made Jane Seymour famous, the birth of her son Edward VI and her death a matter of days afterward.

For her debut book, I think Johnston does a decent job telling Jane Seymour’s story for a modern audience with lovely photographs of ways she was remembered through art and architecture. There were some really interesting facts about Jane’s life that I did not know about including her family’s origin and her suitor before Henry, but a lot of this felt like information that I already knew from other books. I think it would be nice if Johnston does write another book that she focuses on the origins of the Seymour family because it covers centuries of English history and I am sure there are some intriguing tales in their family tree.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and the information I learned from reading it. If you want to learn more about Jane Seymour’s life and her family, I recommend reading, “Jane Seymour: An Illustrated Life” by Carol-Ann Johnston.

History was never my best subject at school. This is what suprises me when I find history so very, very interesting. This book satisfied that interest. Well written and researched. Believabkle and clear. Well worth the read. Independantly reviiewed from a copy supplied.

Recommended book which is well-written and will be enoyable fans of the author. Enoyable book and will look forward to more.

In this latest book about Henry VIII’s third wife, Carol-Ann Johnston brings Jane Seymour to life with both words and contemporary images from the sixteenth century. Johnston, in Jane Seymour: An Illustrated Life, brings the spotlight to the eclipsed Jane Seymour and focuses on her life before and after her marriage to the infamous English king. Johnston appropriately dedicates much of the book to Jane Seymour’s life before she catches Henry VIII’s eye, focusing on her service at court and her family history before pivoting to her life at the center of Tudor court life in the 1530s. The images interspersed in the text add to the book’s character, and the captions are incredibly helpful and informative, providing clarifying contextual information for the reader. Johnston’s familiarity with Jane Seymour’s history and her love for the topic adds to the depth and quality of this interesting insight into this quietly powerful woman. Johnston’s prose is strong and powerful, and her contextual information places Jane Seymour at the center of the historical narrative and explains elements of Jane Seymour’s life and lived experiences in greater detail. Johnston’s book about Jane Seymour places this important historical woman at the center of her own history and unravels some of the mystery surrounding this English queen consort.

Jane is the wife of Henry VIII who is often forgotten about. This is surprising, considering that she was the only wife who managed to give Henry the longed-for son who actually survived! She is not regarded as being as interesting as the other wives, so she has been rather neglected, although she was portrayed as saintly and beautiful in "The Tudors".

Pale and generally regarded as plain, she may even have been the original 'plain Jane'. People were surprised when she caught the King's eye, but she was the opposite of Anne Boleyn, being docile and demure. The King probably regarded her as not likely to argue, and she was the perfect girlfriend for him. Anne -supporters often think that she seems pretty sly, deliberately playing her cards perfectly to marry Henry when she was one of Anne's ladies, but as the author points out, she only did what Anne did herself. She would not have played any part in Anne's death, and, as a devout Catholic, she was probably convinced that Anne was guilty.

This is a good defence of Jane, who was well-loved, generous and amiable. Apparently, she did show some spirit, pleading on behalf of some of those who took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace. However, she soon gave it up - as you would, if you were likely to get your head chopped off! She was also influential in reconciling Henry with his daughter Mary, and she was quite kind to Elizabeth, as well. It's sad that she died so tragically, and young, because she would have been a good Queen.

I enjoyed this book, especially the author's own story of her search for Jane, and the trivia about Jane. I recommend this for history-lovers.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I want to thank Pen & Sword and Netgalley for an uncorrected proof of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I believe this is the first book I have read that focuses specifically on Queen Jane Seymour's life. I think that this might be due to the fact that she is not as well documented as some of the other Tudor Queen Consorts and my own prejudice in finding several of the other Queen Consorts of this period more interesting. That being said I am grateful that I started with Johnston's well-written and researched work.

I debated the rating for this book because I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not want to put it down because there were so many interesting references to primary sources. All of the facts that were specific to Jane were fascinating and a good 95% of them were information that I had either never read before or were highlighted in a new way. However, a good portion of the book focuses on the other players at the court, particularly the other five wives of Jane's husband. While these sections of the book were fascinating and kept me engaged I did feel that there were instances where Jane got a bit lost in the story. That is ultimately why I gave this book an overall rating of 4 out of 5. If I were simply rating the facts concerning Jane it's a 5 out of 5.

My two favourite pieces of information were Johnston's examination of Jane's relationship with her step-daughters, particularly Elizabeth, and the information concerning her time before she became Queen including previous suitors she may have had.

Johnston's love and admiration for Jane was quite clear throughout the text and that is one of the things that really made me reevaluate how I viewed Jane. I do not subscribe to the idea that if you have a favourite Tudor Consort you must hate the others, but before reading this book I did find it difficult to connect with Jane.

One way that Johnston helped increase my interest in Jane was through the conjectures she made because there sadly is no (or not enough) evidence to examine Jane's movements/thoughts/feelings at various points throughout her life. I think that Johnston did a good job justifying why these conjectures are reasonable given the available evidence. In particular, the nuance that Johnston used to discuss the way Jane may have thought about "The King's Great Matter" and Anne Boleyn was really thought-provoking. On some level, I think I always assumed that Jane was on Queen Catherine's side and that of traditional Roman Catholicism so Jane simply did not question Queen Anne's guilt (until later perhaps), but Johnston really made me reevaluate.

I would recommend this book to any Tudor history lover or anyone who enjoys learning more about women throughout history. Johnston did an excellent job using the historical record to examine Queen Jane Seymour's life and filling in the blanks when the records don't exist. Johnston's work will make you question what you may think you know about Jane and that is the best kind of history book in my opinion.

I was really excited to read Carol-Ann Johnston's biography of Jane Seymour, who I've often regarded as the most neglected out of all of Henry VIII's six wives. Carol-Ann Johnston acknowledges very early on that the historical record on Jane Seymour is quite thin and whilst her enthusiasm for Jane Seymour shines through it's not enough to overcome the fact that the reader is still left with an incomplete picture of the wife who was the only one to give Henry VIII the one thing he'd ever wanted - a son.

'Jane Seymour' should definitely be regarded as a commendable attempt at shining a light on a woman who was born into a middling family but found herself occupying the position of queen when Henry VIII dispatched with Anne Boleyn. Readers will definitely enjoy the few anecdotes that demonstrate that there was more to 'Jane Seymour' than being a 'plain Jane' and that she wasn't afraid to act on her principles. I just wish there was more information, but as history during the sixteenth century tended to be written by men it's not surprising that little information survives on Jane Seymour who was earmarked for an unremarkable future as a low-ranking gentry woman.

Apparently there isn’t much documentation to be found about Jane Seymour. After having read another historical account on Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I, the contrast was so stark!

I felt that the author did a good job despite the limitations that perhaps made it necessary to include more details about the characters that surrounded Jane Seymour at that time. I enjoyed reading Ms Johnston’s educated views on various controversial matters about the queen. It was also nice to see illustrations and portraits of Queen Jane as well as the people and structures relevant to her at that time..

4 stars from me.

This started out okay but i'll admit at first it felt very unprofessional. As someone who loves to read extensively about the Tudors and the six wives, I could fill in the blanks that were glossed over by the author but I don't know that I would recommend it at all.

- The personal touches by the author to explain why she felt connected to Jane were few and randomly dropped in a way that looked like the author was told to add them and they were written in as an afterthought.

- While Jane had a very private life and died early on in her marriage, meaning there isn't a lot of information about her and her thoughts, the way the book was written made it so that maybe 30% was really about Jane Seymour, with most of the book being about the first two wives and then going through all the wives after her, albeit more succinctly than if it had been a book about each of the wives. But this was simply not a book only on Jane.

- This one is hard to explain but i'll start with an example: At one point the author mentions two elements: why Jane Seymour died and why there was a number of people in her funeral procession. In the first case she mentions a theory by Allison Weir, however she only mentions it briefly and thus mentions it wrong by leaving out crucial details (such as the fact that Weir's theory is supported by medical professionals who looked at the facts of the case and came to a specific conclusion) then, for the second fact, the author mentions that she asked Allison Weir information but "Allison couldn't find the document in her research" and then the author just....moves on. She asks questions that she doesn't bother answering or theorizing, mentions other theories lazily and incompletely, or blankly goes "i looked for answers but the documents weren't there".

- The sources felt unreliable: Apart from a few scholar mentions, the author bases a lot of her writing on blog posts and what seemed like google searches really. Why buy a book where the author just pasted together a bunch of info from sources with varying degrees of reliability?

I'm not saying the author should have invented anything or found answers that no one has, but for every question she asked, she didn't bother covering all of the actual theories that are backed up by plenty of evidence. And again, we barely got enough information about Jane.
It seems like in the beginning of the book, the focus on Katherine and Anne was about showing where Jane would have herself been mentally and physically, but after Jane's death, we have a good chunk of pages fleeting through what happened after her death : essentially, the author knew that she was veering off the subject of her book, and kind of rushed through the ending to compensate for that.

I'm not saying that someone who is starting their journey into the topic wouldn't get something out of this book, but I am saying that there is better out there. Even Allison Weir's fiction books on the six tudor queens are better done, and there is at the ending of each book a lot of research to substantiate the narrative choices.

This is the second non-fiction illustrated book I have read about the tudor wives and honestly, it's put me off reading them in the future. The illustrated part leads you to believe it is somehow related to Jane Seymour but really it's photographs that would have been applicable to any other wife. The only two interesting pictures were the door to Jane Seymour's rooms and the view from outside, giving an eerie feeling as these would have been the last things she would have seen before dying.
Otherwise this is a collection of chaotic and surface-level research that sounds like it was written as a Master's thesis in a rush over the summer.

The review has been published on goodreads.

I am a huge Tudor history fan, particularly of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, so this book immediately caught my eye. Carol-Ann Johnston immediately makes a statement that I somewhat disagree with: that of the six wives, Jane Seymour is the least documented wife, followed by Catherine Howard. I disagree because both of these women came from relatively prominent families, and moreover, there are way too many books that have been written about the wives for there to have been limited documentation.

But Johnston redeems herself by providing a great summary concerning Jane Seymour, which can be broken down in 4 main points:
1. she witnessed one of the most turbulent periods in English history
2. her brief 17-month reign saw her acting as peacemaker/reconciler
3. she proved to be an excellent wife to the temperamental Henry VIII
4. as the mother to the longed-for male heir, she secured her place in Henry's heart and in history in general

Some interesting points Johnston included:
1. Jane had a potential suitor prior to Henry VIII showing interest in her.
2. Jane attempted to save some of the religious houses during the dissolution of the monasteries, but was unsuccessful.
3. a theory that Jane died due to a C-section delivery (Johnston says this is false; moreover the usual causes of death are puerperal fever & pulmonary embolism)
4. the possibility that Henry VIII wanted to legitimize his bastard son, Henry Fitzroy

Drawbacks:
1. Johnston seems to have too many questions that remain unanswered or just seem like random thoughts. This gives an air of uncertainty to the book, and that is off-putting.
2. Over-usage of quotes. At times, it felt like Johnston was just trying to fill up space. Several of the quotes could have been pared down to maybe 2 or 3 pertinent lines to emphasize whatever point she was making.

Overall, this book is not a biography of Jane Seymour, but a biography of the Tudor period with Jane as a main character in a cast of many. On the upside, I did enjoy the illustrations....though having them in color would be better.

As much as I adore the Tudors, this particular book is not one I'd read again. Thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword for this arc, which I voluntarily read and reviewed.

I have always loved history especially about the Tudor Dynasty. Henry VIII and his six wives has especially interested me. Jane Seymour was the wife who gave Henry VIII the son he wanted so badly; However, very little is known about this woman who died 12 days after giving birth.
I so appreciate Ms. Johnston granting my wish to read this book. Her research appeared thorough and factual. The drawings and photos were magnificent.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in British history especially the Tudor era.