57 pages • 1-hour read
My Lady Jane
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Part 2, Chapters 19-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “(In Which We Throw History Out the Window)”
Part 2, Midlogue Summary
The narration uses direct address to state that the rest of the story is a scary adventure that historians want hidden, as they don’t want all the work of rewriting the books.
Part 2, Chapter 19 Summary: “Edward”
In Gran’s care, Edward recovers fast. He practices fighting with Gracie and is amazed that she is better than him. She reveals that when she was seven, English soldiers burned her family in their cottage because they were Ethians. She managed to escape in fox form, and the Pack took her in. Their leader, Ben, educated her in survival skills, history, and philosophy. However a new leader, Archer, took over. He turned the Pack into a terrorizing force, rather than a shelter. Gracie left and they put a price on her head. She reveals she helped Edward because she liked his smile, and she gives him a wooden fox she carved. They nearly kiss, but Gran summons him for his medicine.
Bess masterminds their plans. She has raven Ethian spies in London, who reveal that Mary is beginning a persecution. She has been building up her own secret army, but it is not yet strong enough. She suggests Edward should go to France to seek aid from the French king.
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary: “Jane”
Jane turns back into a human just before Gifford becomes a horse. They both glimpse each other naked in this process, creating a frisson. She wears his clothes and swaps the saddle over to him. They send the other horse in a different direction, which successfully diverts their pursuers. Led by Pet, Jane travels north, riding on G as a horse.
At dusk, they shelter in an abandoned barn. Back in human form, G reveals that Peter gave him Jane’s letter to Edward, with the word “skunk” in the corner. Jane sees that “skunk” is in Edward’s handwriting. She deduces that he is alive and has gone to their Gran’s. She is overjoyed, but immediately turns back into a ferret.
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary: “Gifford”
Pet turns into a human to explain that she has caught Edward’s scent, but it is fading so they must hurry. She turns back into a dog. G follows her, carrying Jane as a ferret. At daybreak, they each swap forms and continue travelling with human Jane riding on horse G. At dusk they have a few minutes together in human form, during which they discuss a plan for getting food, as they’re both weakening. Jane suggests that G try to barter a service for some food. She turns into a ferret.
G goes into a tavern, but realizes it is the base of the Pack. They suspect him of spying and attack. He manages to escape but Jane gets hurt in her ferret form. Led by Pet, he hurries toward Gran’s, carrying Jane.
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary: “Edward”
Edward laments that Gracie still won’t call him “Edward”—she half-jokingly calls him “Sire.” One night a dog keeps barking. He creeps downstairs to find that G has arrived with an injured ferret—Jane. Gran organizes everyone in the house to help her prepare medicine. Jane turns human at dawn and has a brief moment of affection with G before he becomes a horse. She is relieved to see Edward alive. Gracie is slightly put out at their close relationship, and also his relationship with Pet, who briefly becomes human to greet him.
Gran declares that Jane will be okay, but she is still weak. She and Edward discuss their newfound Ethian forms and struggles to control them. Edward is happy to observe that she and G really love each other.
Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary: “Jane”
Edward, Jane, and Gifford are still struggling to control their changes even though they love their animal forms. Gran and Gracie explain that it requires self-knowledge and mental strength. Jane thinks she and G may be cursed, as they seem governed by the sun.
Despite Gracie’s concerns, the group decides that before heading to France, they should try to win over the Pack. They don’t just want to win back the crown; they need to unite the country and make it safe for all. Despite Edward’s protests, Jane and Gracie assert that they should come because of their skills and knowledge.
At the tavern, Bess and Jane make convincing arguments, but the Pack leader, Archer, refuses to cooperate. He points out that Edward didn’t do much to help them or the country even when he was king. He says he’ll only help if Gracie gives him her treasured knife, a gift from her father-figure Ben. She refuses. Archer then says he’ll help if they kill the mythical Great White Bear: He claims it is real and is terrorizing the village.
Part 2, Chapter 24 Summary: “Gifford”
G locks ferret-Jane in a cage to prevent her coming to fight the bear, as it would be dangerous for a small animal. Bess and Gracie stay behind too, as Gracie is worried Archer might try something.
On the way to fight the bear, G and Edward bond over their love for Jane and Gracie respectively. G composes some poetry (from Shakespeare’s works) and Edward compliments him. He says if they survive he’d like to start a theatre company.
The bear is enormous, but together they manage to kill the bear through a mixture of luck and planning. When they return, Jane is furious with G for locking her up. They all leave for France.
Part 2, Chapters 19-24 Analysis
In this section, the protagonists overcome individual obstacles to come together with their allies for the first time, reinforcing The Importance of Social Responsibility and mutual support. As this section starts, they all overcome imminent mortal peril and isolation to reach the safety of Gran’s house, which represents a place of acceptance and care in a dangerous world.
Edward begins to recover from the brink of death as Gran and Bess give him the antidote, having made it there thanks to Gracie’s help. Jane and G’s journey mirrors Edward’s in the previous section: Pursued by soldiers and struggling to survive in the countryside, Jane becomes injured and G must hurry to get her to Gran’s in time to save her, upping the pace and creating a sense of jeopardy. Where Gracie and Edward struggled with a social divide, Jane and G struggle with the divide of their alternating Ethian forms, as they are only briefly human at the same time. Despite this, they manage to work as a team thanks to their growing understanding of each other, and G’s love empowers him to race to Gran’s for Jane’s sake. The authors thus show the value of mutually supportive personal relationships and loyalty.
Their arrival sets up the protagonists as a united group with a clear, shared aim—to win back the throne. The characters must once again confront The Complexities of Freedom and Power on a personal level—they are now hunted and have lost their political power, so they want to regain control for their own personal freedom. However, they now also see that their own freedom relates to others’ freedom too, as Mary threatens the freedom of Ethians everywhere. The protagonists now have a shared sense of a bigger purpose behind their wish for power—this is not just for their own sakes, but for the good of the whole country.
Jane has won G over in an earlier section, and his motivation is increased as she turns out to be an Ethian too. Edward is inspired by Bess’s words and Gracie’s example. Bess expresses a passionate belief in the monarch’s duty to improve life for the people and create harmony. Gracie’s backstory shows that hatred is a vicious cycle: When the persecuted Ethians begin to attack the Verities in turn, this only leads to greater social divide and violence. The authors show how the protagonists’ loyalty to each other brings them together physically, but their openness in learning from others brings them together idealistically. Where they had all been separately pursuing their own aims relating to their freedom and power, they are now united behind the overarching mission that will be center stage for the climactic final section.
As the narrative moves toward this mission, the theme of Finding One’s True Self becomes increasingly important. The work that Edward, Jane, and G must do in better understanding their true selves is important for the plot, as they cannot fully control their transformations. Gran, Gracie, and Pet all make it clear that this phenomenon relates to self-knowledge and internal equilibrium: As Pet tells G, “get yer house in order” (282). Edward learns that he loves his freedom and doesn’t feel equipped for the social responsibility of power, but he has not yet found a way to navigate these competing interests. He reassesses his biases about women in this section, now seeing them as equal to men, but does not yet know how to incorporate this newfound realization on a practical level—a change of attitude that foreshadows his later choice of crowning Bess. He recognizes Bess’s natural leadership, commanding presence, and belief in social responsibility; he also notes the value of Gracie’s skills and Jane’s knowledge.
Meanwhile, Jane and G have grown to love and respect each other, but their relationship is haunted by the fact that their marriage was forced onto them. Their ongoing debate about freedom and protectiveness reaches a head as G locks up Jane so she can’t get hurt fighting the bear. This creates an enormous rift as the book moves into the final section, establishing a personal obstacle that they will have to resolve to complete their quest.
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