When the wives of Henry VIII are discussed, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn seem to get the most attention. Jane Seymour is often an afterthought, described most often as the plain, shy, and dutiful girl who bore the king’s only legitimate son. Thankfully, Gardner goes beyond this description and breathes life in her lead character, showing readers how a shy, insecure girl somehow found it within herself not only to win the affections of the king, but also to gracefully manuever her way through a most treacherous court.

While the preceding books in this series about the wives of Henry VIII have been told in the first person from the point of view of someone close to the queen, this novel is written in third person and tells the story primarily from Jane’s own point of view. From a young age Jane realized that her parents think her plain and resigned themselves to the prospect of placing her in a convent. Jane longs to be loved, and dreams instead of finding a match for herself.

In an unusual twist of fate, Jane’s courtier uncle intercedes and arranges for her to come to court as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. There, Jane finds herself in a completely different world as she goes from life among the country gentry to living as a untitled young girl amongst royalty and the aristocracy. In addition, she finds herself caught between two courts – that of Catherine whom she is bound to serve and the circle surrounding Anne Boleyn, the “queen-in-waiting”. Jane must choose her alliances carefully if she is to survive the court intrigues and protect her family’s position.

Though certainly not a perfect person, Jane’s character is fascinating. The author does a good job of blending the placid demeanor remarked upon in many histories with a keen intelligence, a quality not difficult to imagine in someone who managed to survive years of Tudor intrigues. After all, Henry’s court was filled with many people of much higher position than the Seymour family. For Jane to go from serving Catherine to serving Anne Boleyn and then to attract the notice of the king, marry him, and bring relative domestic peace to the household without drawing too much by way of retribution from enemies would have taken some very skillful manuevering. Jane may not have been outspoken or ambitious, but survival at court would have required a great deal of intelligence and diplomacy.

While Gardner’s Jane is more interesting than most portrayals of the character, the novel’s rendition of Anne Boleyn as the great villainness detracted from the story somewhat. The preceeding book in the series dealt with Anne at least somewhat sympathetically, but in Plain Jane, Anne Boleyn is only a few steps removed from pure evil. Indeed, the characterizations of many of the main players (Anne, Catherine, Henry VIII) are less than subtle. Jane herself is rather well written, but the people surrounding her are shown either as almost wholly good or almost wholly bad. To have a truly bright character viewing people in terms that are at times rather simplistic just does not ring true.

In addition to seeming a little flat, Gardner’s characterizations of people at court make Jane’s interactions with Catherine, Anne and Henry VIII himself feel a little odd. Sometimes these are effective, but in other cases, the overly simplified descriptions just don’t allow conversations to come alive. While this novel still has some of the details that have made the first two remarkable reads, this one allows too much distance to grow between the reader and the story. Plain Jane is still a pleasant read and sometimes even a very good one, but it is just too uneven to rise above a qualified recommendation.