Elizabeth and Mary

Cousins, Rivals, Queens

By: Jane Dunn

Narrated by: Donada Peters

Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

The first dual biography of two of the world’s most remarkable women - Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots - by one of Britain’s “best biographers” (The Sunday Times)

In a rich and riveting narrative, Jane Dunn reveals the extraordinary rivalry between the regal cousins. It is the story of two queens ruling on one island, each with a claim to the throne of England, each embodying dramatically opposing qualities of character, ideals of womanliness (and views of sexuality) and divinely ordained kingship.

As regnant queens in an overwhelmingly masculine world, they were deplored for their femaleness, compared unfavorably with each other and courted by the same men. By placing their dynamic and ever-changing relationship at the center of the book, Dunn illuminates their differences.

Elizabeth, inheriting a weak, divided country coveted by all the Catholic monarchs of Europe, is revolutionary in her insistence on ruling alone and inspired in her use of celibacy as a political tool - yet also possessed of a deeply feeling nature. Mary is not the romantic victim of history but a courageous adventurer with a reckless heart and a magnetic influence over men and women alike. Vengeful against her enemies and the more ruthless of the two queens, she is untroubled by plotting Elizabeth’s murder.

Elizabeth, however, is driven to anguish at finally having to sanction Mary’s death for treason. Working almost exclusively from contemporary letters and writings, Dunn explores their symbiotic, though never face-to-face, relationship and the power struggle that raged between them.

A story of sex, power and politics, of a rivalry unparalleled in the pages of English history, of two charismatic women - told in a masterful double biography.

©2004 Jane Dunn (P)2004 Random House, Inc., Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A perceptive, suspenseful account of complex English history .... By the end of this satisfying book, one feels sympathy for both women, brave queens in an age when ‘no one considered that a woman could effectively rule alone.'" (The New York Times Book Review)

“Elegant.... Dunn demythologizes Elizabeth and Mary. In humanizing their dynamic and shifting relationship, Dunn describes it as fueled by both rivalry and their natural solidarity as women in an overwhlemingly masculine world.” (Boston Herald)

“A wholly engrossing and sumptuous retelling of a tale that entered legend even before its protagonists were dead.” (Newsday)

Very good

I have spent a lot of time studying the Tudors monarchs and I found this book very good and engaging

Fascinating

I was only dimly aware of Elizabeth I and not aware at all of Mary, Queen of Scots. This book changed all of that. I was well written, well narrated, and absolutely fascinating. It provided an alluring picture of the life of Elizabeth, a little less so for Mary. I became so absorbed, I have pursued the subject with other, more detailed (and less readable) histories of the two and the Tudor period. Highly recommend.

5 stars - anything else you neet to know..?

5 stars - anything else you neet to know..?

Brush up on your history...

This book has an interesting premise and as a historian, I understand the need for “new” or “unique” scholarship, but the structuring of the book will give you whiplash if you don’t already know the historical timeline.

Sister or Cousins

Would love to know more detail of their parentage and more history stories behind it.

Good general intro

It's an interesting premise, comparing the two queens, and it is both useful and thought-provoking. There was a fair amount of repetition of ideas, though, of the kind of summary one expects from the introduction or the ending of a work, not continually reiterated within it. The reader's voice is fine, not annoying at all.

Elizabeth and Mary

I loved this book. If you are any kind of European history buff, you will too. Well written and well read. Never a dull moment.

english accent is hard to follow

the accent of the narrator was difficult to follow. the writer used to many colloquial words,

It should be titled "Elizabeth the Great, Mary the Malicious"

The book itself was very well written. It is, however, indescribably biased. The book goes on and on about how thoughtful and magnanimous Queen Elizabeth was and how terrible and scheming Queen Mary was. How Mary's only concern was herself and Elizabeth's was poor stupid Mary and her beloved country. I've read several books on both and this one seems to praise Elizabeth and condemn Mary in a terribly off-sided way. Again, quite well written, but unjustly so.

The chapters were all wonky

Oftentimes with my audiobooks I bounce back and forth between a physical copy of the writing and an audiobook. Unfortunately, the experience with this was not seem less like most tend to be, in my experience. At the beginning of any given chapter in the physical book could be matched up anywhere within the audiobook chapter, and the audiobook chapter numbers didn't typically marry up with the book chapter numbers either. I quite liked the narrator - her intonation, tone, and speech characteristics were all what I look for in a narrator, and she aced those standards for me. My only drawback of this audiobook is as already stated, but that's a big one for me. Other than that I really enjoyed the narrator and the author's content.