Tower of London

William Harrison Ainsworth was an English historical novelist. He studied at the law courses in a university. Ainsworth briefly tried the publishing business, but soon gave it up and devoted himself to journalism and literature. He wrote 39 novels. He successfully mixed the fact and fiction in his novels, noting that his romanticized treatment of Dick Turpin became rapidly accepted (popularly) as historical fact, while his novelization of the 1612 Lancashire witch trials similarly distorted real events into a Gothic form. This is a historical romance that described the history of Lady Jane Grey from her short-lived time as Queen of England to her execution. The events of the book rotate between historical background and the plot of Lady Jane. The plot began with Lady Jane Grey, who was a wife of Guilford Dudley and a daughter-in-law to the Duke of Northumberland, as she entered the Tower of London on 10 July 1553. Prior to her entrance into the Tower, she ruled as Queen of England for nine days after she and her husband were put on the throne by the Duke of Northumberland.