Book review by Tracey
I always enjoy reading about Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. She was a fascinating character and led a very unusual life even for her time. This author was setting out to prove that Mary was just as intelligent as her cousin Elizabeth I of England, and that she had a greater claim to the English throne. Mr. Guy has apparently sifted through all the old documents and some new ones to thoroughly research his premise. The problem for me is that the whole idea has been done to death. It probably does matter to someone whether one cousin or the other was superior, but it doesn’t matter a whit to me. They are both awesome historical figures. They were both women who managed to be at the very top of their game in a world almost wholly ruled and controlled by men. What’s not to admire about either of them? Of course you will say that Elizabeth had Mary beheaded and that wasn’t fair! Who cares if it was fair!? They are both long dead. The only lesson I can see to be learned from either of them is how well they learned and applied their powers of manipulation on the world around them. I don’t mean manipulation in a bad sense either. Men manipulate their world all the time with different degrees of success. Let a woman try it though, and she is MANIPULATIVE. I think both of these women did it very well.

Other than finding the proving of superior intelligence and hereditary right a little tedious I did enjoy the book because there was a lot of interesting personal stuff written about Mary while she was in France and later when she returned to Scotland. I truly can’t imagine anyone being able to rule that crazy Scotland and its crazy nobility if it was anything like Mr. Guy portrays it. I say Mary tried but couldn’t overcome the odds. She lost the bet, but I can’t imagine anyone forgetting she was in the game.

Tracey.