I have read George's other 2 fictional biographies and found them quite enjoyable and fascinating. So, of course, I purchased and read the third: Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one as much.

George gives a very detailed history of the life of Mary from her infanthood as Queen, then childhood in France, ruling Scotland and imprisonment in England. George is very good at doing research on her subject before engaging in the fictional history. She proves to fill in the missing pieces of these figures' lives in great detail. I had trouble making it thru the life of Mary. It started off interesting enough with the trials and tribulations going on in Scotland with the new Protestant religion beginning to take hold. But as the novel progressed it became a story about Mary's ignorance and imprisonment. I would have to say the first half of the novel held my interest as Mary grew up from the spoiled child in France to a young Queen thrown into a life separated from her people. The second half of the novel Mary became a lovelorn woman who was ignorant of the effects her relationship with Bothwell was having on her royal rule (or she chose to ignore her duties for her man so to speak).

All in all it was an ok book. I think that George could have made a better choice of characters to write about instead of Mary but what's done is done. I do like her work and would continue to read them if and when she does more. Don't be discouraged from her work if this is the first one you read. Her work on Cleopatra and Henry VIII were great.

Recommended: No