Embroidering Her Truth

Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power

De: Clare Hunter

Narrado por: Siobhan Redmond

An alternative biography of Mary, Queen of Scots through the textiles of her life from the author of Sunday Times best seller Threads of Life.

I felt that Mary was there, pulling at my sleeve, willing me to appreciate the artistry, wanting me to understand the dazzle of the material world that shaped her.

At her execution Mary, Queen of Scots wore red. Widely known as the colour of strength and passion, it was in fact worn by Mary as the Catholic symbol of martyrdom.

In 16th-century Europe, women's voices were suppressed and silenced. Even for a queen like Mary, her prime duty was to bear sons. In an age when textiles expressed power, Mary exploited them to emphasise her female agency. From her lavishly embroidered gowns as the prospective wife of the French Dauphin to the fashion dolls she used to encourage a Marian style at the Scottish court and the subversive messages she embroidered in captivity for her supporters, Mary used textiles to advance her political agenda, affirm her royal lineage and tell her own story.

In this eloquent cultural biography, Clare Hunter exquisitely blends history, politics and memoir to tell the story of a queen in her own voice.

©2022 Clare Hunter (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

NO PICTURES????

I bought the audio version after purchasing book. NO PICTURES !!!!!! Might as well listen. would recommend if you like this sibject

So good

This author seems to present the research accurately and when two differing perspectives are given, states her reasoning of why she might chose one over the other. I started with ‘Threads of Life” and knew I had to read/listen to both. I enjoyed them both a lot. And will likely listen to them again on a regular basis and likely buy the physical books. If you’re on the fence, come over to my side and give these a listen, I don’t think you will regret it.

Fabulous Book

I enjoyed this so much that I shall start from the beginning in the event I missed anything,

Excellent Biography Woven in Through Embroidery

I loved learning so much about Queen Mary while also learning about the importance of fabrics and embroidery during her time!

loved

really enjoyed this historical account of Mary Queen of Scots and the impact of textiles on self expression and communication

It's a fashion history book much more then Mary's.

I loved the performance, so it's 5/5.

As for a storyline, it's all around justifying often incompetent and in most cases openly stupid desisions of Mary Stuart. Some parts where author criticizes Elizabeth and tries to show Mary as a martyr made me cringe. In the last chapters where the story went around Mary's capitivity and her plotting against Elizabeth despite author's tries it was clear that Mary wasn't innocent at all and such were the laws at that time: she committed treason and she paid for it. I stopped listening to the book where author says that Elizabeth's rights to the throne were dubious when Mary was a rightful monarch. Seriously?

The book is too biased to be called a proper history book, but as a costume historian and specialist I do give credits for a very interesting insight to fashion, costume construction, embroidery and hidden meanings in each detail people wore back in those days. 2/5

Overall I recommend this book to people who are interested in fashion history, not in history of Mary Queen of Scots.