I’m crazy-mad for British history. From Boudicca to the Duchess of Cambridge, I will read anything you give me about the sceptered isle, whether in my beloved historical romances or dry, dusty history texts. Like many of you, my favorite period for fiction is the Georgian/Regency, when those fun-loving Hanovers were running things.

But in pure, factual history, I’m a pushover for the Tudors. What a family – the Tudors put the “fun” in “dysfunctional” as they say. But for some reason, the fiction books about that era have not lived up to the real stories, IMHO. When you have Henry VIII’s antics as fact, fiction has got to go a long way to keep up. And given the status of women at the time, historical accuracy can come perilously close to offending modern sensibilities.

So I was pleased to find Jennifer Blake’s new book, By His Majesty’s Grace. Ms. Blake has captured the earthy, sometimes-crude manners of the Tudor court while still managing to give us an appealing love story with a likeable hero and heroine.

In the years following his victory at Bosworth and marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VII must consolidate his tenuous grip on the throne, and one way to control his nobles is to intervene in their private lives. Thus, the king gives Lady Isobel Milton in marriage to one of his knights, Sir Rand of Braesford. This kind of woman-as-property scene is difficult to handle, but Ms. Blake pulls it off quite well. Right from the beginning Isobel makes it clear that she’s not some spineless little pawn, but neither is she so independent and outspoken that she’s an anachronism. Her balance of feistiness and submissiveness is exactly how you like to think you’d have acted under these conditions.

Rand is obnoxiously he-man enough to fit the period. But when he spouts off about marital rights and women needing to be obedient, you can tolerate it, because it is clear that he is absolutely smitten with Isobel and will do anything for her. Again, a fine balancing act that has baffled many a lesser writer.

There’s all kinds of intrigue, the really vicious, take-no-prisoners kind the Tudors excelled at.  Rand gets accused of murder, and her search to uncover the truth puts Isobel on a collision course with some very powerful forces who will do anything to achieve their goals.

The story has plenty of violence, as you’d expect of this era, and little of the elegant, witty conversation we fans of the Regency enjoy. But I found By His Majesty’s Grace to be a nice change of pace. I’ll definitely be waiting for the next two in Ms.Blake’s Graces of Graydon trilogy.

~ Donna