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Mary Queen of Scots
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
Author of Marie Antoinette She was the quintessential queen: statuesque, regal, dazzlingly beautiful. Her royal birth gave her claim to the thrones of two nations; her marriage to the young French dauphin promised to place a third glorious crown on her noble head. Instead, Mary Stuart became the victim of her own impulsive heart, scandalizing her world with a foolish passion that would lead to abduction, rape and even murder. Betrayed by those she most trusted, she would be lured into a deadly game of power, only to lose to her envious and unforgiving cousin, Elizabeth I. Here is her story, a queen who lost a throne for love, a monarch pampered and adored even as she was led to her beheading, the unforgettable woman who became a legend for all time.
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Sophronisba
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Pickpick

I read this (gasp) thirty-five years ago in high school and decided to revisit it. I was really pleased with how well it holds up! Meticulously detailed, so you have to really commit to understanding the finer points of Scottish history, but well-written. And it's hard to be bored when there are so many moments that feel like they were ripped from a modern soap opera.

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erinreads
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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The one plus to spending so much time on airplanes in the past few days is that I got to catch up on some recent movie releases! Finally saw Mary Queen of Scots and now I want to read all about her. Any recommendations? Any good fiction out there with her as the main character?

Endowarrior21 The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory 5y
Birdsong28 It's not fiction but it's the book the movie was based on 5y
erinreads @Endowarrior21 @TrishB @Birdsong28 Thank you! Going to track these all down now. 5y
67 likes4 comments
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Endowarrior21
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser

I am about to start the new movie that came out last year. I hope I like it seeing she was my great x 9 grandmother and Henry VIII was my great grandfather x12.

lahousewyfe That's cool! 5y
Bookwormjillk Cool! I‘ve been wanting to see that. 5y
Endowarrior21 It was very good 5y
30 likes3 comments
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BiblioLitten
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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I‘m a sucker for any book that screams #royalty. I read this one a while back, and even though it was about Mary, Queen of Scots, I was intrigued by Queen Elizabeth. She was sly, ruthless, consumed by jealousy, and made a very interesting character. Reminded me of Machiavelli‘s The Prince. #literaryluck

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 👑👸❤️ 5y
TrishB Great book and good description of Liz 1 ! That‘s exactly what she was like 😁 5y
CouronneDhiver 😊👍 5y
vkois88 They were both very interesting people. This sounds like a good read. #Stacked 5y
56 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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Birdsong28
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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TrishB This is a good read 👍🏻 5y
Birdsong28 @trishb I'm going to see the film at the end of the month based on the John Guy book should be good. 😀📚📖 5y
Ms_T I must resist, I must resist... 5y
See All 7 Comments
TrishB @Ms_T no you must not 😁😁 5y
Birdsong28 @ms_t Go on you know you want to 😂😘 5y
Birdsong28 @ms_t Go on you know you want to 😂😘📚📖 5y
Ms_T @TrishB @Birdsong28 You‘re such a bad influence! 😈 5y
36 likes1 stack add7 comments
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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September 2018 recap: 18 books read, despite 2 weeks of vacation (I usually don't read as much on vacation)
Fave book: Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser
Least fave book: Insurrection, by Robyn Young (a DNF)

review
rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
Pickpick

A.S. Byatt nails it in her blurb when she calls this biography sympathetic but not uncritical and highlights how Fraser has a novelist's eye. This does read smoothly and considers the key players fairly. It is the benchmark against which I will measure other treatments of Mary.

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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
This post contains spoilers
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Boy, I'm glad I ended up finishing this book at home...the part after her execution where her dog was sitting unconsolably by her headless body had me weeping 😭😭😭

Swe_Eva 😫 Poor doggo. (edited) 6y
rabbitprincess @Swe_Eva I don't think the book stated who if anyone took the dog afterward 😞 6y
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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I didn't know that thought about Hamlet and Gertrude! I'm going to have to read the supplemental material in my Folger Shakespeare edition more closely to see what it says.

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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Captain William BLACKADDER?! 😂

rwmg He didn't spend all his time with Queenie, then 6y
CatLass007 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 6y
TrishB 😂😂 6y
rabbitprincess @rwmg Guess he had to hedge his bets! 6y
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Me: 😳 Oh my, what a title!
...
Me: 😶 Oh my, there's a typo!

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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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And then "the corpse was solemnly declared guilty" ???

Rachbb3 That's one those cases where justice will prevail no matter what!! 😂 6y
rabbitprincess @Rachbb3 Yes, in this case especially! The guy was a creep. 6y
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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🙄

Swe_Eva 😉🤣 6y
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser

"Otherwise nothing untoward marked the celebrations, except that the Sire de Saint-Jehan, favourite of the dauphin, had his eye put out during the jousting; but even this minor tragedy was not held to mar the general celebrations."

It was only a flesh wound?!

LeahBergen 😂😂 6y
rabbitprincess @LeahBergen I would certainly not be so casual about eye injuries 😖 6y
27 likes2 comments
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Long weekend day 2 of 3: quality time with Mary, Queen of Scots.

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Caksf
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Pickpick

This was a comprehensive, extremely detailed biography on the life and times of Mary Queen of Scots. I add this to the list of”must reads” for any non fiction history fans out there. It‘s rare that a history book leads me to sleepless nights and reading sessions supplied with tissues, but this one did just that. Highly recommend 5/5

emilyhaldi Great review! I‘m intrigued... 6y
TrishB Agree 👍🏻 this is a great book. 6y
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Caksf
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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I‘m flying in the face of conventional wisdom and jumping back into #24in48 with a thick tome about Mary Queen of Scots. @24in48

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taylormariewrites
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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❝No more tears now; I will think of revenge.❞
— Mary Queen of Scots ⚔️

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zsuzsanna_reads
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Sitting on the patio and reading together on a sunny morning. #dogsoflitsy

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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Both of these books involve Mary Queen of Scots and were published in the 1960s (the Dunnett in 1964 and the Fraser in 1969).
#aprilbookshowers day 6

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zsuzsanna_reads
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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I love the funny and poignant foreword in this edition.

shawnmooney I am of course familiar with this preeminent biographer, but I've never gotten around to reading anything of hers – your post makes me want to read this book! 7y
zsuzsanna_reads @shawnmooney I really liked The Gunpowder Plot and Love and Louis XIV, I found her book on Marie Antoinette good, but incredibly sad. 7y
TrishB Loved this book and the Marie Antoinette one, haven't read The Gunpowder Plot as yet! 7y
Reecaspieces Oh my...the way a book leads your life!! Love it! 7y
BookThia I am an Antonia Fraser fan too. I have this one on my TBR along with Antoinette. I like everything I've read from her, even her fiction. 7y
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zsuzsanna_reads
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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I am reading these two books in tandem, so that I can compare Fraser's approach and interpretation with Guy's before I forget who is who in the story.

Daisydo When we were in Inverness, we found this awesome used bookstore that had more than two bookcases full of different books on Mary. I'm wishing I had spent more time looking. But alas, my husband was looking and I was trying to keep the boy occupied. 7y
zsuzsanna_reads I have got 3 so far, these two and Alison Weir's book on the murder of Lord Darnley. 7y
Nute I thought that I was the only person who would spend time doing something like this.😄 6y
zsuzsanna_reads @Nute of course not, especially not on Litsy! 6y
Nute Right on! 6y
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rabbitprincess
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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My mum has an extensive collection of books about British history and the royal family (and their ancestors). I borrowed this one from her at Christmas and am hoping to read it in conjunction with the Lymond Chronicles.
#readjanuary

CaramelLunacy I have this one on my "soon" pile as well. Fingers crossed 7y
rabbitprincess @CaramelLunacy I'll be interested to hear what you think if you get to it before me! 7y
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HappyEchos
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Starting this tonight! Normally I love to read about Elizabeth but I thought I'd give this queen a try 😜📚

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Laurainthelibrary
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Poor Mary is looking likely to come out stupid and vacuous after all.

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Laurainthelibrary
Mary Queen of Scots | Antonia Fraser
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Lunch with MQSTSVW (Mary Queen of Scots, that stupid, vacuous woman - so named by my high school history teacher, the fabulous Miss Mehrtens. Reading Antoni Fraser to see if the abbreviation fits.)