Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens

by Jane Dunn

They were powerful women in a world that favoured men. They were cousins. And they were rivals for the same throne: one of them had to die.

History knows them as Elizabeth I--Virgin Queen, Gloriana--and Mary Queen of Scots--seducer, conspirator and martyr. But behind these masks were real women full of intelligence, passion and ambition. Jane Dunn's biography brings us face to face with the complex reality of history's most fascinating women.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Tudor Period, Historical, British Literature, Royalty

538 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2003

About the author

Jane Dunn is a leading biographer, the author of Moon in Eclipse: A Life of Mary Shelley, A Very Close Conspiracy: Vanessa Bell and Virginia Wolf, and Antonia White: A Life. Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens was published in the spring of 2003 and spent seven weeks in the top ten of the Sunday Times bestseller list. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Dunn lives near Bath with her husband, the linguist and writer Nicholas Ostler. Her most recent book is Read My Heart.

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent. I read one review where a reader complained that Dunn repeats herself too often, reiterating points as if you aren't going retain them otherwise. That's one reason I loved this book! The reinforcement kept the important stuff fresh in my memory and left me feeling, by the end, I could probably given an impromptu lecture on characters of Mary and Elizabeth.

As for the impressions I personally came away with: Mary was an unfortunate product of the French court that taught her that rule was hers by right. She honed the art of charm but never wisdom. Between her chronic self-indulgence and her (likely) manic depressive cycles, she made a life-long series of decisions that sealed her fate. I have a difficult time with the enduring myth of her Catholic martyrdom; her behavior throughout her life was characterized far more by self-indulgence than faith. I felt as though her role as martyr was a last-ditch effort to improve her legacy. (Dunn seems to present it this way.)

Elizabeth, by contrast, became queen by a chain of uncanny events and never took rule for granted. She was discerning and so careful in her decision-making that indecision (contrasted with Mary's trademark rashness) was a weakness. Her eventual decision to behead Mary can hardly be called a decision at all, as you will see if you read, and even though Mary was skilled at flattery and deference to Elizabeth in their early acquaintance, I got the impression that Elizabeth had more genuine feelings for and loyalty to Mary -- something she couldn't afford to entertain.

I don't want to take the time to chronicle the numerous and critical mistakes that marked Mary's reign, but I will list three decisions I believe hurt Elizabeth's chances of solidifying a trustworthy relationship with Mary: her refusal to ever meet Mary face-to-face, her stall tactics over selecting a possible husband for Mary, and her refusal to grant Mary the asylum she sought when she fled Scotland. Her decision on these matters were complicated by the volatile political and religious situation at the time, and my opinion is an amateur one, but there it is.

Overall, these historical females were brought to life for me in a very personal way, and I am anxious to read more historical books, especially written by Jane Dunn.

[update: I have reconsidered my opinion that Mary's devotion to Catholicism was more an act in the end. I have been reading a bio on her mother, Mary of Guise, and the Catholic faith was a major part of her heritage. The Guises were very devoted Catholics, and Mary Stuart's grandfather Claud was a war hero in defending the faith. No doubt, the stories she was told growing up about her family's history would have reinforced the faith she was brought up in.)

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and ambitious cousin queens at a time when kings ruled Europe, I found this dual biography of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots deeply and doubly interesting. By depicting both personal histories the context of each queen’s life is contrasted and enriched, and Jane Dunn’s thoughtful, vivid writing captures the ethos of their world, the distinctness of their temperaments, personalities and skills, and the subtleties in their conflicted relationship.

Charming, headstrong, and persuasive, Mary became Queen of Scotland at birth and was raised as the pampered future bride of the Dauphin in the French court of Henry II and Catherine De Medici. Insightful, wary, and skilled in the art of negotiation, Elizabeth was very young when she lost her mother Anne Boleyn, and the taint of illegitimacy threatened her freedom, life and reign.

Both Elizabeth and Mary were descendants of Henry VII and their rival claims to the English throne made them adversaries, but as kinswomen and fellow queens on an island outpost of a continent governed by men they had a natural bond and connection that each felt. Elizabeth & Mary takes the queens from birth until Elizabeth's 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada the year after Mary’s beheading and fifteen years before Elizabeth’s death. It’s a fascinating, stirring, and poignant story that’s well told in this book.

[Michaela Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a historicial fiction on this relationship after reading this work (I will not mention the fiction) and I have to say, people tend to romanticize Mary (she is highly "romanticiz-able"). I find this book gives detailed, scholarly information about the probability of why each woman made the decisions she did, while always including alternative theory, including the basis for it's rejection. I've read a few of these books, and I can say this one is the best. Lot's of valuable information and insight. Brava

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dual biography by Jane Dunn is an excellent and highly engaging work of history, and tells much of the Elizabethan age regarding not only politics but also society, religion relationships and gender.

Elizabeth refused to marry and reigned for 45 years as the solitary monarch of England, at the time a revolutionary decision.
A women of great strength, a wise ruler (although as the author points out, unlike Mary, she was blessed with dependable and skilled advisers) and as we see a great orator and poet.
Her rallying of the people of England against the Spanish Armada certainly was something of a reflection of Churchill's rallying of Britain against the Nazi menace 400 years later.
We need leaders in the West today who can stand up against the threat of Islamo-Fascism and terror.

Mary was a passionate and wilful adventurer. married twice for political gain, but took several lovers, and certainly was passionate at different times in her love for Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley(who she came to despise for good reason later) and for the Earl of Bothwell.

Mary was a vengeful ruler and the more ruthless of the two queens, she felt nothing plotting the overthrow and death of Elizabeth, while it was with great anguish that Elizabeth was forced to sign Mary's death warrant, after Mary's plotting (The Throckmorton and Babington plots) made her end inevitable.

Essentially the book is about a fatal and tragic clash of interests.
"A fatal complication ensued when Mary turned her sights on the greater crown of England. believing it her rightful inheritance and a claim worth pursuing. Elizabeth's fundamental insecurity in her own legitimacy, where the whole of Catholic Europe was ranged against her , 'the bastard child of a whore' increased the tension and emotional volatility of the issue. The complex rivalry, the feint and parrying of their personal relationship, sprang from the challenge Mary made for Elizabeth's throne, and the unassailable legitimacy of her claim. The powerful passions this relationship engendered in each was a result of their strikingly different natures. The fact that they never met allowed their rivalries to inflate in each Queen's imagination, their qualities elaborated upon by ambassadors and courtiers intent on their own ambition".
Elizabeth was a prisoner accused of treason and threatened with execution as a young girl, before gaining the throne, seen by the majority of England's people as a great deliverer from her older sister 'Bloody' Mary I's 's tyrannic religious repression of the Protestants.
As was written in John Fox's 'Foxes Book of Martyrs' where he records the names and circumstances of ordinary people put to death for their faith under Mary I "When these at Maidstone were put to death
We wished for our ELIZABETH."

Mary of Scots became Queen in a blaze of glory before a series of intrigues and catastrophes led to her being cast off the throne in a civil war, before fleeing to England.
She was detained on Elizabeth's orders as she was a very real threat to Elizabeth's life and throne on which she had designs, but lived in great luxury and with a large degree of freedom.
Elizabeth did all she could to be merciful but Mary's plotting and attempts to take the throne sealed her own fate.
As Elizabeth wrote to Mary "You have in various manners attempted to take my life, and bring my kingdom to destruction by bloodshed. I have never proceeded harshly against you but have on the contrary protected and maintained you like myself. These treasons will be proved to you, and all made manifest' before asking Mary again to answer for her actions and admit her guilt, and Elizabeth would again be merciful.
Mary's actions played into the hands of Elizabeth's council who then forced elizabeth to give the signal for her execution.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book but am uneasy about it being pitched as historical biography since so much of it is conjecture on the side of Dunn. The very qualities that make it so readable are also the qualities that make it vulnerable as 'history': the idea of getting inside the heads of these characters and understanding their thoughts, feeling and emotions is, for me, absolutely fine in a novel but dubious in something purporting to be factual when there is no, or very little, evidence. While I absolutely agree that all history is interpretive, this goes a little too far.

I also thought it was heavily biased towards Elizabeth, and the patterning of the two women was too polarised: Elizabeth the cool, intellectual virgin and Mary the fascinating but over-emotional, over-sexed and spoilt femme fatale. Dunn's reading of the politics between the two queens is itself overly emotional, rather naively, in my opinion, accepting Elizabeth's supposed reluctance to have Mary executed and her post-event grief as genuine - when scholars in the field have offered far more Machiavellian readings than that, especially from a woman who Dunn herself portrays as putting rationality over emotion.

That aside, this is undoubtedly an enjoyable read, and the novelty of a dual biography of the two women gives it its own niche in an over-crowded Tudor/Elizabethan book marketplace. I would just add a historical reality check, or at least a caveat about keeping in mind alternative readings and interpretations of the evidence.

[Vixxi · Rating 2 out of 5]

i tried so hard to like this book but i just could not get into the book . i did not like the writing style of this writer . she was all over the place with the storyline about the 2 queens in the book . i have not read any other of the books she has written . and i didnt think that i will that is why i give this book 2 stars . i hated giving this book 2 stars but i had no choice in the matter . so i will be reading decked by carol higgins clark . `

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not understand how this book has such a high rating. It simply is not that good. In fact, one of the few positive things I have to say about it is that the narrator was fantastic, my favorite female narrator, Donada Peters.
The other (slightly) positive thing I have to say about the book is that Ms. Dunn's premise set out in the introduction is admirable. She claims that this will be a dual biography focused on the events that shaped each woman's characters and "interactions" in a roughly chronological format. It's too bad that she doesn't even come close to supporting her premise.
This narrative is all over the places both in time and setting not to mention characterization. She starts off by describing Elizabeth's coronation but then abruptly back tracks to chronicle Anne Boleyn's rise and fall from power. (That's just one especially egregious example.) A simile that occurred to me while reading is that Dunn is like a hummingbird that flits from flower to flower never drinking deeply. While some histories must skim the surface (college textbooks for example) most do not. In my opinion, Dunn's historiography is abysmal
She also repeats frequently. She uses some of Elizabeth's more famous quotes two even three times to illustrate the same points. This is yet another example of her poor historiographical skills.
Apart from a few events in Mary's life, the only thing that I learned from this book is that the two women never actually met. That astounds me. It also compels me to find a decent biography of Mary, Queen of Scots.

I highly recommend that all people stay far away from this book, especially if one is an amateur or professional historian or lover of history.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a long-time fan of Elizabeth I, I read this book with great interest. It tackles the character of Elizabeth and Mary in the context of their relationship which was physically remote - contrary to Hollywood and TV, they never actually met. The author explains that this led to them magnifying the threat posed by the other on the basis of the reports of third parties, who often had axes to grind.

The book gave further insight into Elizabeth's tricky, vacillating character, the reasons behind it and the radical nature of her decision not to marry at a time when a queen was seen as having the perceived weaknesses of women in general and needing the steadying presence of a husband to whom her council would then defer. Also it showed how Mary's fatal flaws were partly down to her upbringing in a pampered luxurious French court where she was kept away from any responsibility and never developed feelings of loyalty for her remote Scottish kingdom. She totally lacked the serious commitment which Elizabeth had to her role as ruler and her responsibility to her people. She also seems to have had possible medical problems, which might have included bipolar disorder: whatever the explanation, she was prone to emotional collapses but also to a kind of adrenalin junkie high when danger and excitement offered itself. This fatally led her into plotting against Elizabeth's life when she was deprived of more physical types of risk taking.

The only reason I am withholding the full 5 star rating for this book is that in places there were irritating typing mistakes, and also the author had a tendency to restate the same facts and sometimes to dart around in the timeline - I was then brought out of the narrative with an "Oh, this is before the events I just read about" reaction, having to then mentally shuffle the events into order. But otherwise an enjoyable and informative 4 star read.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the subject matter is not new or groundbreaking (the amount of well-written, important biographies on both monarchs could fill a bookshelf) it is the format of Dunn's book which sets it apart and makes it an excellent addition to any Tudor library. Dunn weaves the stories of both queens, who never met face to face. The result is a fascinating portrait of two very different women who held so much power in their lily-white hands.

"In my end is my beginning." Mary, Queen of Scots

[Robin Tobin (On the back porch reading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, well presented biographies. I applaud the massive research this author pulled from... What an undertaking.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great biography of two great women of British history, but it is not a truly fair biography. It has an Elizabethan slant. The author clearly leans in the favour of Elizabeth in her telling of the story. She can be rather derogatory of Mary sometimes and while she does present the facts, she mostly puts a negative spin on the things that Mary does that Elizabeth and England did not agree with. This again is a nice biography that compares the two queens side by side, but it does clearly lean in favour of Elizabeth.

[BJ Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-researched study of two queens of the same generation, ruling in neighboring monarchies on the same island - a rare occurrence in the world of the 16th century that held that the natural order of things required a male ruler. But instead of making them kindred spirits and supportive of each other, this rarity instead made them life-long rivals, and eventually led to the imprisonment and execution of one of them.

Mary Stuart was queen from birth, and thus was surrounded by excessive flattery and praise. She grew up in false security, and since she was never challenged, she was basically unaware of her own capabilities. And her youth, and the political manipulations by others, worked against her.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was in danger for much of her youth - with Henry VIII for a father, and his penchant for divorcing, imprisoning, executing his wives, their children were often in jeopardy. The lessons she learned from her childhood were that her fate lay largely in her own hands and in how she conducted herself.

At the very beginning of this book, the author tells us that Elizabeth believed in self-discipline and sacrifice, while Mary valued pleasure over duty. In the course of the following 400 pages, she presented historical facts and details that proved this again and again. For all her charisma - and it was apparently quite awesome - Mary's self-centeredness led to grief time after time, with tragic results.

[Kristel Boe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I wish this book was 400 pages longer, I didn't want to stop reading! All of the reality show dramas of present day have NOTHING on the sensational lives of both Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary. A fascinating topic, well written by Jane Dunn.

[Sonia Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both queens were descendants of Henry VII and as such rivals for the English throne. They were kinswomen, but could not have been more different.
Mary the Queen of Scots, queen at birth, the much protected daughter of Mary de Guise, the pawn of her Guise uncles, the pampered and cosseted future Dauphine of Henry II, and playmate to the Dauphin.
Elizabeth should have been the direct heir of Henry VIII, but she never knew if she was the heir or bastard, it all depended on whether her father Henry was in a good mood. Throughout her life, Elizabeth was insecure, sometimes feared for her life. She was slighted, tormented by the fate of her mother Ann Boleyn.
The two queens could not have had a more different upbringing.
Sadly for Mary her life at the Court of France was her undoing, her ruination. She never learnt how to shoulder responsibility, how to plan, how to exercise control, all the makings of a queen. But did anybody expect her to rule? No of course not, that would be the task of her powerful uncles the de Guises.
Elizabeth however with no one to pamper her, no one to cosset her, did what she could in her very limited and constrained life, she studied, she learnt new languages, she learnt to plan but most all she learnt to be calm, exercise extreme self discipline and control to the point of eschewing all personal desires.
That was one of the reasons she never married, for she believed she was the Virgin Queen married to England and her subjects believed in her implicitly, that was one of the reasons her Kingdom had such peace and prosperity. On the other hand Elizabeth was ruthless, any claim to the throne was dealt with severity, so many noblemen with very tenuous claims to the throne were imprisoned in the Tower for years.
After the death of her first husband King Francis II, Mary returned to Scotland but she was unhappy there, it was cold and the noblemen did not much care for the frivolity of the French Court, that was when everything started disintegrating for Mary.
Although Elizabeth promised to meet Mary she just vacillated, to some extent these delays and the impressions one had of the other from the various emissaries exacerbated the gulf between them. Mary was beautiful, extremely charming, everybody loved her but she was terribly lonely and lacking Elizabeth’s fortitude believed that to govern her country Scotland, she needed a husband to help her or do it himself, much like her uncles would have done.
This is when Elizabeth failed Mary completely, she just refused to grant her permission to marry, Mary getting more and more desperate, lacking the strength and fortitude, ended up with two disastrous marriages and her subsequent flight to England seeking asylum. This plunged Elizabeth into a precarious position if not an extremely dangerous one.
Could she have saved Mary? Maybe, but most possibly not. There were so many extenuating circumstances; her councillors were of the opinion that Mary should be beheaded immediately to save England. And so it was done

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 2 out of 5]

More here at my blog ---> http://allthebookblognamesaretaken.bl...

Well, well, well, yet another book slanted completely toward Elizabeth. I had such high hopes for this one, but was sorely disappointed. And not just because of the dichotomy of how the author chose to (mis)represent her subjects.

First, I must be clear that Mary is certainly a flawed heroine. She made one poor decision after another upon returning to Scotland and pursuing the Darnley match. But she can hardly be faulted for the way she was raised - a Scottish queen from her first days, a French princess for nearly two decades, she was pampered and raised in such a way that she was always well aware of her status. But she was also often deprived of those she loved and who loved her the most - her mother, father in law, and husband all in short order. Family was important to Mary, so she naturally sought the guidance and protection of her self-serving half brother, Moray. She couldn't have know, but should have expected his treachery. And in further regards to family, one can only imagine her heartbreak at being all but abandoned by her only child, her beloved son. He too chose to protect his own ambition for the English crown, and had little motivation to help his wrongfully imprisoned mother.

As for Elizabeth, I'm not sure I even have the energy to deconstruct some of this utter nonsense. As I've maintained in other books about this topic, Elizabeth was an insecure, selfish, self-absorbed, manipulative, spoiled brat who knew full well the execution warrant would be served as fast as humanly possible; her counselors could not wait to get rid of Mary. Boo/hiss to Elizabeth. That's all the attention I care to give her.

As for the book itself, there are many issues. It jumps around for the majority of the first half or so and there's no consistency in the telling of events. This seemed to stop when Mary arrived in England. It is also beyond repetitive - this is not a complaint, it is a fact. If one needs that much information repeated time and time again, then perhaps something a little simpler to start with on the topic of these two would have been better.

Overall, highly disappointing. I'm wavering back and forth between two and three stars, how I wish goodreads allowed half stars! It had such potential but I just can't get beyond the obvious favoring of Elizabeth.

I can't say I recommend this one whole-heartedly. Perhaps for those who already have a good knowledge of the two queens and can see through the nonsense and bias in favor of Elizabeth.

[Scoyphenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part of the book was fascinating; it gave insight into the early years of both women’s lives and the events that shaped them. But about a quarter of the way through it got repetitive. Mary was pampered and adored, never learned statecraft, and married as was expected of her; Elizabeth had an unsettled childhood, was a gifted scholar, and was too aware of the dangers of marriage and childbirth to undertake either. Wash, rinse, repeat.

If the book was half as long I might have finished it, but it’s hard to believe that new insights would be revealed in the remaining 400+ pages so I called it quits.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was alright but the author presents a lot of assumptions about the queens' emotions (particularly mary's sexual desires) and leans hard on the old "mary was horny and dependent and elizabeth was strong and smart" trope and i am not here for it

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in three days! It was hard to put down once I got started and became hooked. Jane Dunn goes beneath the initial layers of these women to reveal just what made these girls tick, what they were really made of and what kept them going. Both were deeply religious, and one grew up with every benefit befitting her station, while Elizabeth was the underdog at first. Mary was used to using her charm to get what she wanted and when her short reign as Queen of France was over, she was ready and hungry for bigger and better things to come. When Elizabeth came to the throne, she knew the entire world was watching her, just waiting for her to make one mistake, in order to prove that men were really the only ones fit for running a kingdom. Elizabeth however, confounded them all. She ruled with a fair hand, and although she had to make decisions that were not only unpopular with her subjects but uneasy for herself to make. She wrestled quite often over the smallest decisions she had to make, wanting to make sure that it was in everyones best interest as much as she could. Elizabeth truly loved her subjects as just more than those who put money in her coffers. She really wanted the best for them, while Mary wanted everything handed to her, no matter who had to suffer for it. Mary was a spoiled human being, who while granted good graces and charm, somehow never managed to learn from the mistakes that she made. It would have been interesting to see what sort of queen she would have made if she had become more cautious of those around her, and surrounded herself with those who had the best interest of her kingdom at heart, and not their own subservient wants.

A great read and an unbiased view of these two dynamic ladies, one of whom proved the entire world wrong in that women were not fit to lead. I highly recommend reading this book!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography / history was perhaps a little dry, but if you're interested in this era of British history, you'll find it fascinating. Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots were cousins and contemporaries, and as female rulers in the 16th century, historical anomalies. The book is not intended to be a dual biography, but rather a comparative analysis of the reign of the two queens and the times they lived in. But we learn much about both women. Elizabeth is portrayed as an intellectual leader, her sense of duty all-important (even more than love and marriage). Mary is portrayed as charismatic and emotional, lacking discipline over her desires and passions. Her ambition for the English throne was unquenchable, leading eventually to imprisonment and execution. I gained insights into the conflicts of the time related to religion (Catholic vs. Anglican) and the issues of royal succession.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Much information on the two queens. I knew a lot about Elizabeth so a lot was familiar, but I knew a lot less about Mary. It was very interesting to see how Elizabeth tries so hard to do good for Mary With little reward. Mary gives her such a hard time and then the others would have been happy for Mary to die later give Elizabeth such trouble when she is pushed beyond reason with Mary. I thought the amount of documenting of that time period to be amazing and interesting how much we know so many years later.

That said the reason I did not give this book 5 stars is that the book is repetitive, she continuously repeats what she has already told you at the beginning of each chapter also she is a hard read. Worth it - yes, but it was not a book you will finish in an afternoon.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Page 311 and I'm done.

Elizabeth and Mary are fascinating subjects, but I do no like Dunn's "semi-chronological" style. If she had stopped repeating things (sometimes in borderline cut and paste phrases), she could have knocked 50 pages off the book and I would have pushed through. But the back and forth, mentioning and then retuning to later, and even flat out not elaborating (an offhand mention to the "casket letters" Mary allegedly wrote to her second-husband's-murderer/third husband were mentioned and then we moved right past them) made this book not worth the frustration of finishing.


I will now make sure to read the bio of Elizabeth I that I know I have lying around somewhere, and there's a Mary bio by Antonia Fraser that has been highly recommended. They lived sub fascinating lives, it's a shame to skip out before the end because of unfocused plotting.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to be in the minority here, but... well, I don’t really understand how I am. This book has been sitting in my TBR pile for over five years, calling to me with its high star rating, and all it’s managed to do is further cement my dislike for nonfiction. Typically if I’m going to delve into that category, I go for this time period: Tudor England, the War of the Roses, etc etc, but I just couldn’t get into this book. It repeated itself entirely too much, with sometimes the exact same facts and quotes being put to page more than once. Sometimes even more than twice. That coupled with the fact that I don’t particularly feel like I learned anything that will stick with me is what warrants this low rating. Too dry. Too boring. Too long.

[TimeyWimeyBooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble concentrating on this book....which is really rare for me. I love the topic, and I love history books. But the way it was organized had me feelings like I had ADD. It jumps too much between the two, goes back and forth, pages on Elizabeth, a couple on Mary, back and forth. It just has too many people to keep straight this way. I think it would have been much better if it had a section on Elizabeth, then one on Mary, don't talk about them both simultaneously until the "end", that is when things between them unravel and Mary is imprisoned.

[Nicholas Cutright · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seldom review a book, but this one was uniquely terrible. I make it a point to always finish a book once I begin, but that proved a struggle this time. So tediously repetitive was the text that it felt less like a biography and more like a primer. No less than twenty times was it mentioned that the two cousins never met and that Elizabeth never left her island kingdom. A 400 page book that, if written thriftily and without repetition, would have struggled to fill half as many pages. Save yourself the time and agony…I certainly wish I would have.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating biography on the parallel lives of two queens whose lives were intricately intertwined yet they never once met face to face. Fascinating point of view in terms of two powerful women who were opposites in many ways yet both very strong in their own right. Definitely recommend for Tudor history buffs.

[Deb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Admittedly, I only read about half of this book. It was repetitive to the point of annoying. You really get the feeling that the author just couldn't find enough information to fill the requisite number of pages, and so just kept repeating the same lines over and over. Considering the wealth of history involving these two individuals, this should not have been necessary. Very poorly written.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow was this book wordy. I realize that it is non-fiction so it's not going to be the fastest read ever, but Dunn kept repeating herself over and over again. Yes, she was thorough and I got the history I wanted, but I could skip whole paragraphs of repetition. Also, she didn't finish out Queen Elizabeth's life! I had to go read elsewhere about the the end of Elizabeth's days.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfinished. Jane Dunn isn't a bad writer and she shows her research, but she's far too invested in Elizabeth. Mary comes across as an afterthought instead of the Elizabeth contemporary that Dunn wants to portray her as. For those interested in Mary Queen of Scots story, it's better to just get a biography dedicated to her.

[Amina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very pro-Elizabeth and anti- Mary. Well written but with a slight bias towards the "virgin" queen!

[MD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many (many, many...actually) years ago I sat in front of the TV and watched as Disney (possibly in Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color?) introduced me to Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I in a little short called "The Truth About Mother Goose". I cannot tell you that that's the exact moment when I fell in love with History because it would be a stretch, but that's certainly an important moment in the whole process...

I knew all the Mother Goose rhymes and all the Hans Christian Andersen stories, Aesop's fables, etc., and somehow -even in my young mind- I managed to learn that stories we're told as children often have kernels of truth in them. To this day (fifty-odd years later) I love both fiction and non-fiction and often take little lost-in-the-brambles paths that meander away from one subject to another. I am, even at this age, as curious as Alice, and as prone to follow random white rabbits in their dashes off into the distance and down a hole.

This is not my first book on Elizabeth and Mary, but it is one of the most enjoyable ones. It's not so scholarly that it has dry spots where the action lags, and it's not so gossipy that it loses its fact-based traction. Ms. Dunn is an Elizabeth-ite, but not to the point where she maligns Mary to excess or is blind to Queen Bess's faults. The writing style is clear and engaging; you move along at a nice clip (my slowness in finishing was more due to other outside circumstances than to the book itself) and you find yourself making notes about looking into this or that detail.

Ms. Dunn is empathetic. As Lin-Manuel Miranda did with Alexander Hamilton and his contemporaries, she has the ability to remind us that a) these were different times and b) these people were not just the stodgy historical figures we learned about in school...they were basically children who grew up into adolescents who grew up into adults who made all sorts of mistakes because of hubris, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity, outside manipulation, etc.

While Elizabeth I seems to be Ms. Dunn's favorite, Mary is treated fairly. There is a true emotional struggle at the center of Ms. Dunn's narrative; rather than the cartoonish (they were simpler times and it was, of course, intended as an aperitif, not a meal) Mary was nice and Elizabeth was jealous of Disney's version, we get a more rounded vision of what happened (as per the historical record) between these women. I often get on my soapbox and announce that they never met (a bone I've picked clean about certain movies on the subject) and we only have the subjective output of letters and second-hand accounts of the events that transpired, but it's easy to see how Ms. Dunn tried to do less of the villain/victim here.

If you're into this subject, trust me, this is far from arid or biased (even if you think "yeah, Ms. Dunn is DEFINITELY an Elizabeth-ite"). By the time Mary -literally- loses her head, you can almost justify it and still feel the tug of guilt and shame that Elizabeth (nearly flawless in her diplomatic dances) must have gone through. The life of one ends, the life of the other continues, but the book only takes us as close to that point where they last share time-space on the planet. It is, after all, about Elizabeth and Mary, not just about one or the other. While it won't be the last book I read on the subject, it will definitely be one I refer back to for maps and directions on where I'd like to explore next.