Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots

by Rosemary Goring

One of the most famous queens in history, Mary Stuart lived in her homeland for just twelve as a dauntless child who laughed at her friendsʼ seasickness as they sailed to safety in France and later, on her return as a 18-year-old widow to take control of a nation riven with factions, dissent and religious strife. Brief though her time in Scotland was, her experience profoundly influenced who she was and what happened to her.

In this book, Rosemary Goring tells the story of Mary’s Scottish years through the often dramatic and atmospheric locations and settings where the events that shaped her life took place and also examines the part Scotland, and its tumultuous court and culture, played in her downfall. Whether or not Mary Stuart emerges blameless or guilty, in this evocative retelling she can be seen for who she really was.

Locations

Linlithgow Palace * Stirling Castle * Dumbarton Castle * Leith * Holyrood Palace * Crichton Castle * Darnaway Castle * Huntly Castle * Spynie Palace * Falkland Palace * Seton Palace * St Andrews and Fife * Dunbar Castle * Edinburgh Castle * Traquair House * Hermitage Castle * Jedburgh, Mary Queen of Scots House * Craigmillar Castle * Edinburgh and Kirk o’ Field * Borthwick Castle * Carberry Hill * Lochleven Castle * Langside * Dundrennan Abbey

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Scotland, Biography

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2022

About the author

Rosemary Goring was born in Dunbar and studied at the University of St Andrews. After graduation, she worked at W&R Chambers as a reference editor before becoming literary editor of Scotland on Sunday. She is currently literary editor and columnist for The Herald.

Reviews

[historic_chronicles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tale of Mary, Queen of Scots is always one full of myth, mystery and drama. From the age of five she left her homeland for the safety of France before returning as an eighteen-year-old widow to rule a country that was swarmed with factions, danger and religious discontent. Her reign ended in forced abdication and after fleeing to England for apparent support from Elizabeth I, Mary spent the rest of her life prisoner until her execution in 1587.

'Homecoming' is a comprehensive collection of not only Mary's reign, her decisions, her triumphs, her failures, but also that of the people and the places that were alongside her in the country she ruled.

The author makes a generous nod to previous historians, researchers and authors throughout the book and by utilising these opinions she was able to structure an unbiased critical analysis on the arguments and debates on Mary's character and her choices as Queen.

The author points out that there have been many books on Mary, perhaps too many, but what stood out with me was how location played into part for the structure of this book. We travel through castles and holdings almost like a royal progress. They become focal points of major events in Mary's royal and political career, but most importantly they add a certain level of depth to the topic by highlighting points such as the very real danger that Mary lived in on a day to day basis and how certain locations provided more security. I felt this set up gave the scene a bigger sense of realism to it and made the gap of hundreds of years feel a lot less.

There is no denying that Mary is a divisive character. Her character and actions continue to mystify us to this day and when I have read previous books on her, there has often been a very strong opinion on her. The author leaves you to formulate your own opinion which I felt ended the book in the best possible way.

Thank you to @birlinnbooks for sending me a copy to review. I highly recommend this book to everyone when it is published in August!

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually a 2.5
This is an OK biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. One big problem is that in trying to fulfill the idea of it being only about her years in Scotland, there wasn’t enough information for an entire book—many chapters go into histories of other people in other eras at places where Mary spent time, and into the present era when the author visited these various places. It all felt disjointed. Also strange were some of the ideas presented, such as Mary being suited to be queen because she was tall. The best chapter was the last, which discussed different ways in which her reign could be seen, and how there wasn’t really one way to judge it—but this came after a book which did try to see it from one way.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, discussing the successes and (mostly) failures of Mary's tragic reign, painting her as neither a hero nor a villain, but simply a human.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio book - a gift from a friend who lives in Scotland. I am not a fan of Mary, Queen of Scots and this work, which focuses on her earlier years, did nothing to convert me. Her poor judgement and rash selfishness brought misery and death to so many.
However, a key focus of this book was the castles of Scotland where Mary stayed at different times in her crisis ridden career. The descriptions of the buildings were excellent and led me to look each one up for further information. Most importantly they demonstrated the warlike community of 16th century Scotland and the difficulties any monarch would have had actually imposing their rule. Mary was not the right person for the role, which was not her fault. There my sympathy for her ends.

[Barbara Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, as it combined historical fact-finding with stepping into the shoes of Mary as she visited various Scottish sites. The author also mentions her own experiences of following in Mary's footsteps, allowing a modern easy access to her perspective. Certainly more accessible than Antonia Fraser or Jenny Wormald, and perhaps a bit more human in perspective.

[Elle Jay Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, concentrating on Mary’s life in Scotland.

[James Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had looked forward to this book as it placed Mary in a purely Scottish context, so removing the distractions of comparisons with Queen Elizabeth, and the tragedy of her imprisonment and execution.

Ultimately while the author fulfils her stated aim, she does so with little panache. The book frequently feels flat and the characters one-dimensional. The great forces of religious turmoil which threatened to split Scotland asunder seem a distraction. John Knox, certainly a massive personality, seems like a minor player. And the events of Mary’s life sometimes seem skimmed over.

It is an adequate history book, but did not seem to me to convey the passion of the times.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life and death of Mary Queen of Scot’s is full of mistakes and tragedy. This book is interesting as has a focus on the places she visited during her Scottish reign. Liked how the author included her own feelings in her visits to the locations and the inclusion of photos of castles and people from Mary’s time.

[Miriam Huxley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed reading about the many places that hold traces of Mary’s short and tragic life. I think it would have been more interesting to have a deeper narrative of the author’s feelings and interactions with these spaces. My main question was why the author wanted to tell the story this way, why was she, personally, retracing Mary’s steps?

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot about Mary, yet I still learned quite a lot new things. Particularly about the buildings and places she inhabited. The author is really good at conjuring an image of what certain places would have looked like. And gives a small history lesson about the places which was fascinating. I really liked this.

[Catriona MacNicol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of Mary's life (often retold). The focus of this book was the important buildings/residences of Mary, Queen of Scots throughout her time lived in Scotland and the history and drama that took place within them.

[Mrs. Danvers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't set up really as a biography of Mary, it's more like going on a tour of places meaningful to Mary and having the history of the place explained.

[Abigail Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look at me reading nonfiction

[Sheila Joyner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting take on the Mary, Queen of Scots story. More about places and buildings she visited. Thoroughly enjoyed this well researched book.

[Moravian1297 · Rating 4 out of 5]

You very much get the impression that this was a labour of love, it might not have had the same in depth detail of John Guy's epic work on the subject, with this piece principally concentrating on Mary's years in Scotland alone, taking a fair bit of the factual content of this from Guy among others, while the author's speculative and imaginative guess work and some hard, on the ground leg work taking up the slack.

The author's enthusiasm and commitment to this book absolutely shone through in her writing, which made this a complete joy to read, on a subject that is as stirring and exciting as it is fascinating and so, so tragic.
The author cherry picks facts laid out before from other historians and authors such as the afore mentioned John Guy and thankfully this comes across as nothing more than quote citations, rather than any form of plagiarism and mixes these with vivid descriptions of what clothes, accessories, furniture and decorations would have been like at the time of any particular event covered in the book.
The author also imagines what Mary's, her retinue's, her associates and her enemies moods and emotions would have perhaps been like, giving the reader a very rich and totally unique perspective into the world of the sixteenth century Scottish nobility.

The author has obviously done quite a bit of leg work, visiting every site pertinent to Mary and this story, describing not only what it must have been and looked like back in the day, but would resplend us with visions of the weather and the vista in the present.

Because you knew the author was so involved and invested in her story of Mary Stewart it really rubbed off on the reader and you really felt part of the story, like when she told us this little piece of minutia from the christening of her son, the future James VI and I,

"The christening was conducted with full Catholic rites, and on only one point did Mary baulk. It was common for the priest to spit into the babies mouth during the ceremony, but she forbade this. The archbishop was believed to have syphilis: in Mary's words he was a 'poxy priest!'"

You just felt like high fiving Mary, saying, "Damn straight, sister!"

An absorbing read, where the effort and love that has so evidently went into its making, is very much reciprocated by the reader. Tip top.