Queen of Misfortune - Tapa dura

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same 'stranger' who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Following extensive research Peter Carroll attempted to put this to rights in this story filled with love and passion. It follows John Aylmer's close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. It shows how the Duke of Northumberland uses her as a pawn in a devious plan to dupe her into reluctantly accepting the throne against her better judgment, and the torment she suffers in consequence culminating in her early death and that of Guildford Dudley, the husband she was forced to marry. Her strict upbringing and the abuse given by her parents at her home in Bradgate is also cause for concern for John Aylmer and her nurse, Mary Ellen. Starting and ending with the execution in the Tower and the belief she was buried at Bradgate, John Aylmer revives his cherished memories... Peter Carroll has written several short stories, poems and many articles on variable subjects for newspapers and Magazines, his favorite subject being history. Queen of Misfortune is his first novel, a fiction piece which involved intensive research and took three years to complete. Born in Barnet, England in July 1933 and with a standard education, he was called up into the RAF in 1951 and served five years as a medic. Since then, until his retirement, he has mainly been involved in accounting and running his own business with his son. Like a cat with nine lives he has survived an air crash, a lift fall and a serious aortic aneurysm and thanks his Karma faith for that. He now lives in beautiful Torbay in South Devon, has been married to Daphne for over fifty years, and they have two children and four grandchildren.