Book Review: Mary Queen of Scotland by Margaret George

 

Goodreads Summary: She became Queen of Scots when she was only six days old. Life among the warring factions in Scotland was dangerous for the infant Queen, however, and at age five, Mary was sent to France to be raised alongside her betrothed, the Dauphin Francois. Surrounded by all the sensual comforts of the French court, Mary's youth was peaceful, charmed, and when she became Queen of France at the age of sixteen, she seemed to have all she could wish for. But by her eighteenth birthday, Mary was a widow who had lost one throne and had been named by the Pope for another. And her extraordinary adventure had only begun. Defying her powerful cousin Elizabeth I, Mary set sail in 1561 to take her place as the Catholic Queen of a newly Protestant Scotland. A virtual stranger in her volatile native land, Mary would be hailed as a saint, denounced as a whore, and ultimately accused of murdering her second husband, Lord Darnley, in order to marry her lover, the Earl of Bothwell. She was but twenty-five years old when she fled Scotland for the imagined sanctuary of Elizabeth's England, where she would be embroiled in intrigue until she was beheaded "like a criminal" in 1587. In her stunning first novel, The Autobiography of Henry VIII, Margaret George established herself as one of the finest historical novelists of our time. Now she brings us a new, mesmerizing blend of history and storytelling as she turns the astonishing facts of the life of Mary Queen of Scots into magnificent fiction that sweeps us from the glittering French court where Mary spent her youth to the bloodstained Scotland where she reigned as Queen, to the cold English castles where she ended her days. Never before have we been offered such a rich and moving portrayal of the Scots Queen, whose beauty inspired poetry, whose spirit brought forth both devotion and hatred, and whose birthright generated glorious dreams, hideous treachery, and murdered men at her feet.

Goodreads Rating: 4.06 stars with over 12,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, Scottish Culture, French Culture, British Literature 

Goodreads Challenge: 43/60

2020 Reading Challenge: #34 Read a book about a historical figure (fiction or nonfiction) (find the full challenge here)

Book Review: 

Happy belated Thanksgiving, Readers! I hope everyone had a good holiday. I've been on vacation this week, and I am not ready to return to work tomorrow. I think I need another break. Tress and I finalized the 2021 Reading Challenge today. We're pretty excited with how it turned out and plan to release it to the world next weekend, so stay tuned!

So on to Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles. I told myself that I would try and get a bunch of books knocked out before I read this one since it's nearly 900 pages. However, I can't resist a historical fiction that somewhat involves the Tudor family. Ever since I watched Reign, I've been reading Mary Queen of Scots books when I can find them. 

The book follows her entire life, which is about forty-four years, I believe. A lot of what I've read or watched covers a lot more of her early life, especially in France. So it was interesting to read a take on what her life was like when Mary returned to Scotland and then her imprisonment in England. I didn't realize how long she was actually imprisoned or that she had a third husband. The novel seemed pretty well researched, and from what I could tell after reading it, Margaret George has been praised for the research involved in her books. She includes an overview of what she took liberties with, which I thought was interesting. 

I thought that Margaret George's version of Mary was a complex and interesting one. She was young and trying to be everything that everyone wanted her to be. I think she tried to make everyone around her happy but was unfortunately caught in a massive power struggle. I felt like she was portrayed as a kind and caring individual, but also one who was really impulsive and easily swayed. I thought the contrast between Mary and Elizabeth was interesting. I think they both wanted to find common ground, but the scheming and plotting surrounding them prevented it. Plus, where Mary was naive and impulsive, Elizabeth had already been on the throne for some time and planned for the long game.

There was a lot of plotting and scheming involved in this book. I'm not really sure how true to history it was, but I think that's a big reason why I like Historical Fiction based on royal courts so much. There's always some kind of drama going on. There's still someone trying to get ahead by any means necessary. Even though Mary was ultimately tried for her scheming, I didn't really feel like she was the mastermind in any of it. It was all people either doing it to get rid of her or to help her, and she was more of an accessory. There was definitely plotting all the way up until she was executed, which was insanely gruesome and a bit of a circus.

The final chapter was a bit odd for me. Obviously, there needed to be a way to tie the book up and show what happened after her death, but the idea of it being her spirit looking over things just didn't feel like it fit for it being a Historical Fiction. Given that there were other perspectives used in the book, I think for me, it would have been better if it was told by one of the different views like her son's or someone close to her. By that time, it would have been nice to see James' perspective since he was portrayed as hating her but then called for mourning colors to be worn. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I definitely had to bargain with myself to stop, and I stayed up way too late a lot of nights reading it. If you love Historical Fiction and can tolerate a nearly 900-page book, I definitely recommend it.