The Memoirs of Mary, Queen of Scots

De: Carolly Erickson

Narrado por: Rebekah Germain

Born Queen of Scotland, married as a young girl to the invalid young King of France, Mary took the reins of the unruly kingdom of Scotland as a young widow and fought to keep her throne. A second marriage to her handsome but dissolute cousin Lord Darnley ended in murder and scandal, while a third marriage to the dashing, commanding Lord Bothwell, the love of her life, gave her joy but widened the scandal and surrounded her with enduring ill repute. Unable to rise above the violence and disorder that swirled around her, Mary plucked up her courage and escaped to England - only to find herself a prisoner of her ruthless, merciless cousin Queen Elizabeth.

Here, in her own riveting account, is the enchanting woman whose name still evokes excitement and compassion - and whose death under the headsman's axe still draws forth our sorrow.

In The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, Carolly Erickson provides another in her series of mesmerizing historical entertainments, and takes listeners deep into the life and heart of the 16th century's most fascinating woman.

©2009 Carolly Erickson (P)2009 BBC Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"As one of the foremost fictionalized biographers writing today, Erickson breathes life into history and brings great women to life. She brilliantly takes Mary, Queen of Scots, out of the historical record and creates a passionate woman readers will understand and adore.... Erickson's engrossing narrative allows Mary to speak and readers to decide what kind of woman she was." ( Romantic Times)

Narrator’s voice was soothing.

I keep getting my Henry’s, Elizabeth’s and Mary’s mixed up. Need a geneology chart at my side.

wonderful story

this was a pleasure to read. truly a fun version of history. It takes what you know and with a flare of imagination and drama elevates it to so much more.

Enjoyable History Read

Fictional but based from real events made this book super enjoyable. History junkies will like it.

Very well written and narrated

I believe this account to be authentic, although there is so much confusion by historian account. You can’t very well dispute actual diaries though, can you? Many accounts of royals are truly disturbing, this one is one of many of them, tragic as it is.
Well worth the read.

English & Scottish History

The book is mostly written from Mary's point of view. It shows the both the sides of privilege and the inborn beliefs in responsibilities. I found it an extremely interesting listen, well written and well narrated.

Fiction! Fiction! tricked me, thought this was authentic

If you read the description it says in her own words, but while listening, I was like, Bothwell was supposedly deceased when Mary was executed and also this doesn't sound like Queen Mary, and upon further inspection, this is FICTION . Audible spammed me and I bought up on reading the description, missing the "Historical Fiction" tag

Fiction being the key word

I downloaded this book both because I had enjoyed Ms. Erickson's prior novel about Katherine Parr and because I read or listen to most books (fiction and non) about Mary Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor. Unfortunately, I also wrote my senior thesis in college on the interplay between Elizabeth and Mary so my own knowledge of history is strong in this era.

I say unfortunately because, as well-narrated as this book was, and knowing that it was a fictional treatment of Queen Mary's life, the grotesque historical inaccuracies ruined the listening for me. At the very end, the narrator reads an "Afterword" that acknowledges the lack of authenticity. No, Mary and Elizabeth did not meet in the baths (in fact, they never met at all, but most fictional writers feel the need to have them meet). Lord Bothwell died in a Danish prison. The whole story is a compilation of "what ifs." If that acknowledgment had been a preface rather than an afterword, I might have been able to better enjoy the story as pure fiction, using the names of historical figures.

Mary and Elizabeth never met. Lord Bothwell did not visit Mary during her long imprisonment in England after Mary's abdication of the Scottish throne. Mary certainly did NOT escape England, go to Italy and roam around Flanders and France and then return to England. The entire story is made up out of whole cloth and is a poor introduction to the wonderful world of the Tudors and the Stuarts who are fascinating figures.

The real people who are characterized in this book are interesting enough without the number of dramatizations that are in this story. Novelizing Elizabeth and Mary is fine and so many good novels have been written of their lives. This just isn't one of them.