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A review by spess
Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power by Leah Redmond Chang
3.0
The central premise of this nonfiction book is basically the relationship between three queens: Catherine de’ Medici, queen of France; Elisabeth of Valois, queen of Spain (her oldest daughter); and Mary, Queen of Scotts (her daughter-in-law).
Most of the evidence of their relationship dynamics came from letters and it was interesting to see what they had to say in their own (translated) words.
However, I felt like a lot of important events were kind of brushed over and I would have liked a little more detail or interpretation.
I think the biggest thing that threw me is where the author ended things. Mary’s entire imprisonment in England and the plot that led to her execution are only briefly gone over in the epilogue. The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre was left to the epilogue as well. As someone who is not terribly familiar with these queens, I would have appreciated more analysis of those events.
All that being said, I still enjoyed this book. I really only knew the infamous highlights about Catherine de’ Medici and Mary, Queen of Scotts; I knew nothing about Elisabeth of Valois, so I enjoyed learning more about them and the context of their lives.
I received an ARC from NetGalley.
Most of the evidence of their relationship dynamics came from letters and it was interesting to see what they had to say in their own (translated) words.
However, I felt like a lot of important events were kind of brushed over and I would have liked a little more detail or interpretation.
I think the biggest thing that threw me is where the author ended things. Mary’s entire imprisonment in England and the plot that led to her execution are only briefly gone over in the epilogue. The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre was left to the epilogue as well. As someone who is not terribly familiar with these queens, I would have appreciated more analysis of those events.
All that being said, I still enjoyed this book. I really only knew the infamous highlights about Catherine de’ Medici and Mary, Queen of Scotts; I knew nothing about Elisabeth of Valois, so I enjoyed learning more about them and the context of their lives.
I received an ARC from NetGalley.