Rating: ★★★★★
This is the story of Mary Queen of Scotland, the ill-fated ruler of the wild and savage land north of England, the reigning power on the island. It's a frightfully long book, and it covers all of her life, from her birth and the circumstances surrounding it to her death in 1587.
Mary is born in a time when Scottish independence is not secured, in a land fighting for freedom from English invasion. Henry VIII tries to claim her country for his own; she is crowned Queen at only six days old, after her father dies defending the country. She spends her childhood moved around Scotland in order to hide from English troops attempting to capture her and bring her back to England to marry Edward Tudor, the King's son. Eventually she is sent to France, to marry the young French prince Francois.
The novel itself takes readers from her time as beloved princess of the French court, to her short reign as Queen of France, and her return to Scotland. It portrays the political and sexual environment she was forced into, and rehashes over the controversies with her second and third husbands, the Lords Darnley and Bothwell respectively. We are taken on Mary's journey from revered to reviled, to her imprisonment and forced abdication to her baby son James, the future King of England, and her escape and fleeing to England, where she is held by her cousin Elizabeth I for nearly twenty years before finally being executed.
This novel was shockingly brilliant, and haunting. The scope of it takes readers on an emotional journey, and we watch closely as Mary grows to realise that she cannot see the world around her through a child's eyes. We watch as she makes good decisions, criticise her when she makes bad ones (and she makes so many bad ones!!!), and cry when, at the end, we are forced to look on as she comes to terms with her impending death.
Mary's characterisation was a big win for me. Plaidy tended to make her seem too stupid and simplistic; while Mary was certainly naive, there was no reason to believe she was dumb. She was an incompetent ruler, but a good woman. George highlighted the complexity of her character. When it was over, I mourned. Mourned. As in, full-on crying for fifteen minutes mourn.
This is an epic read for anyone who loves historical fiction and is game enough to work through a lengthy novel of nearly nine hundred pages.
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