My Lady Jane

The Prologue uses direct address to introduce the story, which is set in a fantastical version of early modern England. There are two types of humans: Ethians, who can turn into an animal, and Verities, who cannot. Verities have ruled for years, persecuting Ethians into hiding. However, Henry VIII turns into a lion when he’s angry. He announces that Ethians now have the same rights as Verities, causing a rift with the Verity church, based in Rome. When he dies, his young son Edward inherits a troubled country with growing animosity between Ethians and Verities.

Edward is aggrieved when his physician, Boubou, says he has “The Affliction,” a respiratory disease that will kill him in under a year. His two sisters visit. He gets on best with Bess, whose mother Anne was rumored to be an Ethian with a cat form. Mary is very serious and has been raised as a Verity to hate the Ethians. However, they have all bonded over their dangerous father and unfortunate, absent mothers. Mary brings up the succession but Lord Dudley interrupts.

Privately, Dudley tells Edward they need to resolve the succession.