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Royal Road to Fotheringhay: A Novel (A Novel of the Stuarts Book 1) Kindle Edition
Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland at the tender age of six days old. Her French-born mother, the Queen Regent, knew immediately that the infant queen would be a vulnerable pawn in the power struggle between Scotland’s clans and nobles. So Mary was sent away from the land of her birth and raised in the sophisticated and glittering court of France. Unusually tall and slim, a writer of music and poetry, Mary was celebrated throughout Europe for her beauty and intellect. Married in her teens to the Dauphin François, she would become not only Queen of Scotland but Queen of France as well. But Mary’s happiness was short-lived. Her husband, always sickly, died after only two years on the throne, and there was no place for Mary in the court of the new king. At the age of twenty, she returned to Scotland, a place she barely knew.
Once home, the Queen of Scots discovered she was a stranger in her own country. She spoke only French and was a devout Catholic in a land of stern Presbyterians. Her nation was controlled by a quarrelsome group of lords, including her illegitimate half brother, the Earl of Moray, and by John Knox, a fire-and-brimstone Calvinist preacher, who denounced the young queen as a Papist and a whore. Mary eventually remarried, hoping to find a loving ally in the Scottish Lord Darnley. But Darnley proved violent and untrustworthy. When he died mysteriously, suspicion fell on Mary. In haste, she married Lord Bothwell, the prime suspect in her husband’s murder, a move that outraged all of Scotland. When her nobles rose against her, the disgraced Queen of Scots fled to England, hoping to be taken in by her cousin Elizabeth I. But Mary’s flight from Scotland led not to safety, but to Fotheringhay Castle.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCrown
- Publication dateMarch 25, 2010
- File size2941 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
From the Inside Flap
Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland at the tender age of six days old. Her French-born mother, the Queen Regent, knew immediately that the infant queen would be a vulnerable pawn in the power struggle between Scotland s clans and nobles. So Mary was sent away from the land of her birth and raised in the sophisticated and glittering court of France. Unusually tall and slim, a writer of music and poetry, Mary was celebrated throughout Europe for her beauty and intellect. Married in her teens to the Dauphin François, she would become not only Queen of Scotland but Queen of France as well. But Mary s happiness was short-lived. Her husband, always sickly, died after only two years on the throne, and there was no place for Mary in the court of the new king. At the age of twenty, she returned to Scotland, a place she barely knew.
Once home, the Queen of Scots discovered she was a stranger in her own country. She spoke only French and was a devout Catholic in a land of stern Presbyterians. Her nation was controlled by a quarrelsome group of lords, including her illegitimate half brother, the Earl of Moray, and by John Knox, a fire-and-brimstone Calvinist preacher, who denounced the young queen as a Papist and a whore. Mary eventually remarried, hoping to find a loving ally in the Scottish Lord Darnley. But Darnley proved violent and untrustworthy. When he died mysteriously, suspicion fell on Mary. In haste, she married Lord Bothwell, the prime suspect in her husband s murder, a move that outraged all of Scotland. When her nobles rose against her, the disgraced Queen of Scots fled to England, hoping to be taken in by her cousin Elizabeth I. But Mary s flight from Scotland led not to safety, but to Fotheringhay Castle...
Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama. New York Times
From the Back Cover
Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland at the tender age of six days old. Her French-born mother, the Queen Regent, knew immediately that the infant queen would be a vulnerable pawn in the power struggle between Scotland's clans and nobles. So Mary was sent away from the land of her birth and raised in the sophisticated and glittering court of France. Unusually tall and slim, a writer of music and poetry, Mary was celebrated throughout Europe for her beauty and intellect. Married in her teens to the Dauphin Franois, she would become not only Queen of Scotland but Queen of France as well. But Mary's happiness was short-lived. Her husband, always sickly, died after only two years on the throne, and there was no place for Mary in the court of the new king. At the age of twenty, she returned to Scotland, a place she barely knew.
Once home, the Queen of Scots discovered she was a stranger in her own country. She spoke only French and was a devout Catholic in a land of stern Presbyterians. Her nation was controlled by a quarrelsome group of lords, including her illegitimate half brother, the Earl of Moray, and by John Knox, a fire-and-brimstone Calvinist preacher, who denounced the young queen as a Papist and a whore. Mary eventually remarried, hoping to find a loving ally in the Scottish Lord Darnley. But Darnley proved violent and untrustworthy. When he died mysteriously, suspicion fell on Mary. In haste, she married Lord Bothwell, the prime suspect in her husband's murder, a move that outraged all of Scotland. When her nobles rose against her, the disgracedQueen of Scots fled to England, hoping to be taken in by her cousin Elizabeth I. But Mary's flight from Scotland led not to safety, but to Fotheringhay Castle...
"Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama." --"New York Times
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
When she finally arrived back in Scotland, Mary&;s beauty and regal bearing were even more remarkable than they had been when she left as the child-queen. Her charming manner and eagerness to love and be loved endeared her to many, but were in stark contrast to what she saw as the rough manners of the Scots. Her loyalty to Catholicism also separated her from her countrymen, many of whom were followers of the dynamic and bold Protestant preacher John Knox. Though she brought with her French furnishings and companions to make her apartments into a &;Little France,&; she would have to rely on the Scottish Court&;a group comprised of her half brother, members of feuding Scottish clans, and English spies&;to educate her in the ways of Scottish politics. However wise or corrupt her advisors, however, Mary often followed the dictates of her own heart&;to her own peril.
Product details
- ASIN : B003DYGP0O
- Publisher : Crown (March 25, 2010)
- Publication date : March 25, 2010
- Language : English
- File size : 2941 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 354 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0609810235
- Best Sellers Rank: #454,524 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #488 in Historical Biographical Fiction
- #1,524 in Historical British Fiction
- #2,035 in Biographical Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Eleanor Hibbert (1 September 1906 – 19 January 1993) was an English author who combined imagination with facts to bring history alive through novels of fiction and romance. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty; Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. A literary split personality, she also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under the names Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.
In 1989, the Romance Writers of America gave her the Golden Treasure award in recognition of her significant contributions to the romance genre. By the time of her death, she had written more than 200 books that worldwide sold more than 100 million copies in 20 languages. She continues to be a widely borrowed author among lending libraries. Her popular works of historical fiction are appreciated by readers and critics alike for their accuracy, quality of writing, and attention to detail.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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But I have to stop here and say something about the typos and formatting issues in the e-book. Good God, if I were the publisher [Random House] I'd be hanging my head in shame.
For decades, one of the lures of going with a major publisher was the promise that your book would be professionally presented: a cover that would catch readers' eyes, a place on major booksellers' shelves, and a clean copy of the book. Plaidy died in the 1990s, so she never lived to see her numerous books turned into E books. After reading, this I'm glad that she missed out on the e-book craze because if she were still with us she'd doubtlessly be screaming at the numerous typos and formatting issues.
For example, Mary Queen of Scot's third husband was commonly referred to as "Brothwell." Both "broth" and "well" are words in English, so if I were a computer (without any human eyes to look over it), I could very well assume that the name should be broken up into two words. That's my only guess as to why I repeatedly came across "broth-well." If you've had any English courses, you'll know that "broth-well" is grammatically incorrect.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that in order to cut costs, Random House cut their in house line and copy editors, so no human eye ever went over the e version before it was released. Being skinflints, the company probably farmed out the e book conversion to a vendor, and apparently they got what they paid for.
Yes, I'm on a rant here. That's because I expect a quality product from a major publisher, and this kind of sloppiness just ruins Random House's integrity. Had this been a book from a self published author, I would've given the copious amount of formatting problems a break. But Random House has no excuse. And you can't blame Plaidy for quality control failures since she's no longer living.
In choosing books to add to the list of offerings for the ladies in my literary guild at a state-level facility for women offenders, I ran across a copy of "Royal Road" and bought it for myself. Still a heart-rending story. Nice to have an old friend back in my library.
Top reviews from other countries
読みやすいし面白いけれども、主な登場人物について予習しておかないと、かなりわかりにくい部分が多いので、何か伝記を先に読むことをおすすめします。
説明なしに、同じ人物が三つの肩書きで書かれていたりして、何という名前の人が何公爵かというようなことがわからないと、この台詞を言ったのは誰というのがわからない場面があります。初期の作品なのか、説明不足があるかと思えば、説明過剰もあるんですよね。それでも、魅力ある小説だと思います。
特に後半の描写の濃厚さは、この著者の作品の中でも屈指のできだと思います。ただ、前半がなかなかエンジンがかからない。
前半でいいところは、退廃的なロレーヌ枢機卿(メアリの叔父)と悪役の王妃カトリーヌ・ド・メディシスですね。特にカトリーヌさんの切れ味のいい毒の塊のような台詞(口調は丁寧だけど)は頭の回転の良さと、あまりの悪役ぶりにかっこよささえ感じます。
2015年追記
Margaret George Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles: A Novel とかCarolyn Meyer The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots (Young Royals) とかだと、メアリを良い人にするために、全部悪いことは人のせいにして、それってメアリは良い人になるかもしれないけど、彼女の意思ってないの?となるのです。その点、この本ではメアリは判断力はないかもしれないけど、自分で判断して、思いっきり自分の意思で生きていて、良いと思いました。
あと、エリザベス1世が主人公の同じ著者の本 Queen of This Realm (Queens of England) で、「この事件の時に私が同じような目に遭った時にどう行動したかを思い出さなかったなら、メアリ、あなたは馬鹿よ」とあるのですが、思い出さなかったみたいです。