
For the Love of Scotland: A Celebration of All Things Scottish
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Did you know? * Nessie is not the only monster supposedly living in a Scottish loch. Loch Morar has...

Elizabethan Espionage: Plotters and Spies in the Struggle Between Catholicism and the Crown
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In the wake of the 1588 destruction of the Spanish Armada, English Catholics launched an ingenious...

The Queen’s Spy
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1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots...
Historical Fiction Tudor

ClareR (5879 KP) rated Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power in Books
May 31, 2023
This book is about the lives of Catherine de’ Medici (married to the French Henry II), Elisabeth of Spain and Mary, Queen of Scots and how their lives wove together.
There are some really interesting facts here (Mary was nearly 6 feet tall - now THIS is the kind of fact I live for!). But it was the personal side that really interested me. Catherine loved her children fiercely even though she had little time with them. She wanted to know every detail of their lives. Her letters to Elisabeth when she went to Spain were filled with family gossip and instructions. Just the kind of stuff that any mother would send their daughter, and Elisabeth appeared to want to always make her mother proud.
Mary and Elisabeth were like sisters, so when Mary needed Elizabeth’s and Spain’s support when the Scottish Lords turned against her, it must have hurt her greatly when they refused to help.
What I liked most was having the opportunity to dip my toes in to the history of France and Spain. It sounded as tumultuous as our own.
I do think that I’m going to have to follow up on Cathrine de’ Medici, though. Now she sounds fascinating!
I’m so glad that I read this - thanks to The Pigeonhole!

The Random History of Golf
Tony Husband, Aubrey Ganguly and Justyn Barnes
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This is the story of golf as it's never been told before. A dog-legged compilation of sports...

A Tip for the Hangman
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Christopher Marlowe, a brilliant aspiring playwright, is pulled into the duplicitous world of...

Women in My Rose Garden: The History, Romance and Adventure of Old Roses
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Many of our best-loved heritage roses are named after women and in this charming book, Ann Chapman...

Elizabeth I and Her Circle
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This is the story of Elizabeth I's inner circle and the crucial human relationships which lay at the...
The fact that I haven’t (yet) read books 2-5 has made no difference at all to my great reading enjoyment, so this can be read as a one off (but why would you do that? Books 1 and 6 are fab, so I’ll be reading books 2-5 without a doubt).
Bruno is working undercover for Elizabeth I’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, and they hope to stop what becomes known as The Babington Plot - a plot to kill Elizabeth I, break Mary Queen of Scots out of prison and put her on England’s throne instead. This is all about Elizabeth’s claim to be queen. Henry VIII has disowned her as illegitimate when Anne was beheaded, and she was a Protestant to boot! Babington and his crew are staunch catholics, and they want a catholic on the throne. Mary fits the bill.
Francis Walsingham is desperate to find an excuse to dispose of Mary, and Babington is providing the goods. There is a secret letter exchange going on between the plotters and that Walsingham knows about, but he needs to catch them in the act - and he needs to ensure that Mary implicates herself completely.
This is all historical fact, as is Bruno’s existence, and I think that’s what puts the icing on the cake for me. I love historical fiction that brings real characters to life on the page. Bruno is a great character - he’s intelligent, funny and emotional. Basically, he’s a great character to build a story around.
So much research must have gone in to this book, and I really appreciate that. The side characters add couloir and substance to the whole story.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and I’ve now given myself the rather enjoyable task of catching up with Bruno!

Catherine of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen
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This is the image of Catherine of Aragon who has always suffered in comparison to the heir -...