Sue Reid on the background to Lady Jane Grey . . .

Writing the diary of a girl who lived such a long time ago was never going to be easy. Girls in Tudor times – even noble girls like Lady Jane Grey - were not considered very important, until they married, so little is known about them. To make things even more difficult, in recent times historians have begun to question much of what we thought we knew about Jane Grey. Was Jane the saintly girl who was bullied by her parents, forced into a marriage she didn't want, and made queen against her will? Or is the truth rather different? (If you want to know more about that, read the historical note at the back of the book.) In the end, all I could do was try to stay true to what facts we have, and fill in the gaps as best I could.

Girls in Tudor times didn't write diaries, and I had to try and imagine how Jane might have felt and thought about things, and the people in her life. Of course it is impossible to know for sure, but from what I'd read about her and the little that survives of what we know she wrote and said, I built up a picture of the sort of girl she might have been - strong-willed, clever and determined - a girl who liked to have her own way. Of course it's important to remember that this is only my interpretation!

After you've read the book, you might want to visit some of the places Jane knew. You can still walk round Bradgate Park in Leicestershire, and see the ruins of the Tudor house where Jane grew up. You can also visit Sudeley Castle, in Gloucestershire, where Jane lived for a time, the ward of Sir Thomas Seymour and Katherine Parr. The chapel where Katherine Parr is entombed is in the grounds, and you can also see Katherine's Privy Chamber in the house.

Somerset House still stands, but the great mansion you can see today on the banks of the River Thames was rebuilt long after both the Duke of Somerset, its original builder, and Jane Grey were dead. And of course you can visit the Tower of London where Jane arrived in state as a young queen, and where she was subsequently imprisoned and her short life so tragically ended, under the executioner's axe on Tower Green.