Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles
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- Synopsis
- This is a detailed but never dull account of the life of Mary Stewart, who was the queen of France during her late teens and the queen of Scotland for about 6 years after the early death of her first husband, frail, young King Francois. Though she was born and raised to rule Scotland, its people who were rapidly adopting the reform protestant faith under John Knox were dissatisfied with a Catholic queen raised in France. She married the second time for love and to gain the support of queen Elizabeth I of England. She was unable to grant a king's rights to Darnley, her second husband because she soon realized he was drunk, temperamental and irrational most of the time. He became abusive to Mary and found pleasure with hired women disillusioning the young queen. After Darnley's murder she gave her heart to Bothwell, a loyal, fighting Scotsman who guarded her borders, maintained her navy and was already married. Plots and resentment against her accumulated until she fled for her life to England where she was imprisoned and spent nearly 20 years negotiating an escape. Mary was peace-loving. She lacked intelligence and understanding of Scotland and was unable to surround herself with loyal advisors who could compensate for her shortcomings. She was brave, passionate, and faithful to those she loved and to the Catholic church. Unfortunately her impulsive nature and inability to assess her place in the politics of the time were her undoing. Her story is compelling, moving, fascinating, reading. The author has researched the time and characters exhaustively. You will be entertained and informed and will be so lost in the latter half of the 16th century that you'll be sorry when this 870 page novel comes to an end. In an afterward, the author, Margaret George, explains various theories about Mary's personality, points out the few elements in the novel she has fictionalized and provides suggestions for further reading.
- Copyright:
- 1992
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 872 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9780312155858
- Publisher:
- N/A
- Date of Addition:
- 11/01/07
- Copyrighted By:
- Margaret George
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Literature and Fiction
- Submitted By:
- Carrie Karnos
- Proofread By:
- Lissi
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.