Mary Queen of Scots

I think it was the first biography I ever purchased. At age ten or eleven, I read in it, but now I’m reading it all the way through, and I’m pleased to say that even at that tender age, I gravitated to the best!

Fraser stops the narrative when she wants to discourse upon a particular issue or attribute and always considers her own take on events and characters worthy of elegant interjection.

She’s not afraid to discuss relevant but not strictly solemn issues, such as whether Mary was considered beautiful and the tragic queen’s love of dancing and cross-dressing. 

I read this book many years ago, but I went back to it as my first port of call when I began to research my own book on Mary. It’s a fantastically readable, detailed, and sympathetic portrait of Mary. And the sympathetic bit was important to me. It’s almost impossible not to take sides when reading or writing about Mary, and she did make some disastrous decisions, but I keep coming back to how young she was, and that’s well illustrated here.

I am truly excited to recommend this stunning biography of Mary Stuart – one of my very favourite historical figures – whose incredible story is vividly brought to life by Dame Antonia Fraser, one of my very favourite authors,  such that the reader will experience each dramatic step of Mary’s path to immortality.

I love the complexity of the tale – and of Mary herself. It’s difficult to remember that this is a true story: Mary was literally born Queen of Scotland, mere days after her father’s death. Having spent most of her early life in France, becoming Queen of… show more.