READERS GUIDE

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. The title of the book is A Dangerous Inheritance. Discuss the significance of this as it applies to each character’s journey.

2. The author has interwoven the stories of two young women who are linked by marriage and supernatural events. Do you think this works well?

3. When writing historical fiction based on real characters and events, do you think it is acceptable for an author to invent fictional threads or distort historical facts, such as creating supernatural elements or making up the heroines’ quests for the truth about the Princes in the Tower?

4. Do you agree with the author that historical novels based on real people and events should always have an Author’s Note explaining what is fact and what is fiction?

5. Do you think the author has dealt fairly with Richard III in this novel? Why would she have found it challenging to write about him from the viewpoint of his daughter?

6. Do you find the heroines likable characters? One editor described Katherine Grey as “self-obsessed”—would you agree with that assessment? If not, how would you describe her?

7. How do you think Jane’s fate affected Katherine’s decisions and outlook?

8. In your opinion, could either Katherine or Kate have avoided their fates? If so, what do you think their lives would have been like?

9. Whose story resonated more with you, Katherine’s or Kate’s? Why?

10. Queen Elizabeth has been portrayed in many different ways over the years, both on the page and on the screen. What did you think of her character in A Dangerous Inheritance? Did you find her position at all sympathetic?

11. Do you think that Elizabeth I was right to view Katherine Grey as a threat? Was Katherine at least partially responsible for that? If so, in what way(s)?

12. Aside from the invented quest and love affair, do you find the au- thor’s fictional construction of Kate Plantagenet’s story convincing?

13. Getting the language right is always a challenge in historical novels. Do you think the author has succeeded here?

14. Were you convinced by the novel’s resolution to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower?