Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

This was a historical fiction book that tells the story of Queen Mary and the members of her court. This was an interesting story that told a side of the story I had not been familiar with. I enjoyed reading about the interactions of the other women who were involved with Queen Mary.

I guess I know too much about Scottish history and Mary, Queen of Scots to truly enjoy this book. As a general historical fiction it’s ok. Overall 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

**I received a copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

The Queen's Mary is a historical fiction novel featuring Mary Queen of Scots as told from the point of view of one of her handmaidens, Mary Seton. The story spans major events in the infamous royal's life from her journey from Scotland to France as a young girl to her imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth as Mary was one of her longest serving handmaidens. This provides a great opportunity for the author to pull in the political and religious history and struggles of this time. As historical buffs know, there is a lot that happens during this period and I felt the author did a good job of summarizing the life of Mary Queen of Scots. Having it told from a handmaiden's point of view just added an element of creativity to the story telling. I recommend this book for fans of historical fiction during the Tudor era.

Absolutely loved this it is one of the better historical fiction books I have read for a long time. Will absolutely recommend.

Historical fiction certainly is one of the hardest genres to write if you ask me, at least to write well! It is demanding, involves a lot of research, and should not be too dry.

Since this book was promising me to get to know more about Mary Queen of Scots, I was slightly disappointed by how it actually turned out. The premise of the book is very interesting, but the execution could be better.

Very interesting book. ☆☆☆☆ rating, because I had an issue connecting with development of the characters. Thanks to NetGalley, for this free copy. My opinion is my own.

The Queen’s Mary: In the Shadows of Power by Sarah Gristwood
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 3½/5 stars

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, historical fiction isn’t an easy genre! Bringing history to life while staying true to the historical documents and evidence is a monumental task and not every author is up to the task.

The Queen’s Mary is my first Sarah Gristwood read and I found myself somewhat on the fence with this one. The opening is quite good with five Marys, the Queen of Scots and her four attendants, as children making their way toward France from their respective homes in Scotland. There is something quite endearing and sad about these opening scenes as Queen Mary, clearly bred to her position and destiny holds sway over the other girls. The four attendant Marys understand, even at this early age, their place, for the rest of their respective lives is with the Queen, making her life as comfortable as possible. At such an early age, each of the girls understands, at least on some level, her life is no longer her own and she will serve as it pleases Queen Mary.

Fast forward thirteen years . . . . .

With more than a decade of education behind them and a stint in the French court, the five Marys find themselves on their way back to Scotland. Queen Mary expects a warm welcome, but what she gets is a country sorely divided over religion, a half-brother more than willing to assume her role, a collection of noblemen looking to manage her, and a country of people who are wary of their French-educated, widowed Queen. Settling back into life in Scotland, a country none of the women have seen in 13 years, isn’t going to be easy and if the Queen expects to rule her country, she’s going to need all the support she can muster.

Gristwood’s account of the next six years is filled with court intrigue, personal dramas, and political and religious upheavals. While the Queen must be at the heart of every minute, it is her ladies who tell the story, who recount the moments and the drama. In particular, it is Mary Seton, the one among the Marys who stays with Queen through the bitter end whose accounting of events we read. While Mary Seton never expresses her opinions and/or fears publicly, she records for the reader, the doubts, the troubles, the moments of happiness, the uncertainty, the trials and tribulations of a troubled life, Queen, and reign. While Seton always remains loyal to Queen Mary, she admirably conveys to the reader the constant tension and uncertainty that most certainly fueled every moment of the six years in Scotland.

The Bottom Line: In all, I liked this read, but I wasn’t blown away. If you take the time to read the author’s notes following the conclusion of the read, you discover how little, historically speaking, the author had to work with where the four Marys are concerned. Most of the documentation and evidence deal exclusively with the Queen which means much had to be assumed on the part of the author where the other Marys are concerned. I believe the author worked hard to stay as historically accurate as possible which is why the parts she had to assume (educated guess!) aren’t terribly exciting. In fact, it is the not terribly exciting moments which have me on the fence with this book. The middle of the book has many, many moments which drag by rather than being enlivened by the artist’s imagination. I made it through the Queen’s Mary, liked it, and am willing to give the author another shot since I sincerely believe her creativity was hampered by so little historical information. Sarah Gristwood is absolutely up to the historical fiction challenge and I will absolutely be diving into another of her offerings in the very near future.

I'm a huge historical fiction fan so I was excited to pick this one up, but found myself a bit disappointed. While I found Gristwood's writing style to be easy to read, I wish she had spent a bit more time developing the characters. I never really felt like I got to know the Queen's Marys, which is what I was hoping for. While they were in the story, but book felt more like a series of events where they just happened to be there.

Having read many historical novels, and quite a few of them about Mary Queen of Scots, I was looking forward to the promise of this book - i.e. exploring Scotland's Queen Mary through the eyes of her four ladies, all also named Mary. But this book was a disappointment.

First, it's really not about all four Marys. It's really about one of them, Mary Seton and her perspectives on the other Marys. But not one of the Marys, including the Queen, is fully fleshed out. And as a result, I never could bring myself to care about any of them. Including the Queen.

Instead, the book felt less like a coherent story and more like an almost random series of chronological snapshots -- bits and pieces of conversations and a whole lot of silent imagining and processing that take place only in Mary Seton's brain. So the whole book becomes really a second hand story. Even the drama surrounding Mary Queen of Scots herself winds up feeling remote. Was the Queen aware of plans to kill Darnley? Was she Bothwell's lover before Darnley was murdered? Were her letters to Bothwell real or forged? There are lots of questions raised but no certain answers. Just endless speculation.

I was determined to finish but it became a bit of a chore to stay with this narrative. For me, there are many more enjoyable historical novels that tackle Mary Queen of Scots more successfully.

Fascinating view of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and her turbulent life!
The novel is a narrative of Mary Seton’s life. She was the Queen Mary's lady in waiting. As a child she was designated to serve the queen with three other Marys: Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming and Mary Livingstone. The author has done a tremendous job researching lives of all the Marys. It was interesting to follow the Queen Mary and her ladies from Scotland to France and then back to Scotland, where she tried to rule with fatal results.
I have already read two biographies of Queen Mary, by Maria Bogucka and by Stefan Zweig, so I know the events of Mary Stuart's life. In general I agree with Stefan Zweig's assessment of her. She was a women guided by passion with no deep political understanding of her country and its needs. Certainly, she was no great ruler! She was nothing like her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England, whose reign brought peace, power and prosperity. Still, her actions shaped the history as we know it. It is ironic that all her three marriages were disastrous in their own way. Maybe she should have been a virgin queen, not Elizabeth I. Her last choice of husband resulted in a civil war, her imprisonment, trial and forced abdication. Instead of thinking about her country and people, she followed her own narrow-minded interests. While reading "The Queen's Mary: In the Shadows of Power..." I was astonished at how selfish she seemed and how foolish! I wanted to shake her. There were people depending on her, believing in her, following her follies till their demise. She was no great judge of character, that’s for sure! She made horrendous errors in judgement. Countless times she mistook a foe for a friend and a friend for a foe. During her lifetime she was presented as a temptress, trollop, murderess and a sinner. Afterwards her life was shown in more positive light for political reasons. She became almost a saint, a martyr for Catholic faith. The novel shows historical events without judging them.
The narrator of the novel Mary Seton is deeply loyal to Queen Mary, her own family, faith and country. That’s her most dominant quality and it limits her understanding of what goes on around her. She observes lives of others without playing active part in the most interesting events. She believes that she lives to serve her queen. She doesn’t allow herself to feel, to love and to question motives of people around her. It is interesting that the author has chosen Mary Seton to tell the story. Maybe it was because she hardly ever allows her opinions and feelings to influence her, so she stays neutral to what is happening? Anyway, the history she is narrating is compelling and beautifully detailed and nuanced. It is worth reading, especially if you are interested in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.
“She fought hard to rule a country, but that was never the woman she was meant to be. A waste of talents, you might say. But a queen is more than a creature of politics. She is a creature of story.” – quote from “The Queen's Mary: In the Shadows of Power...”
I would like to thank the author and the publisher for providing me with the advance reader copy of the book.

Four Mary's sent to be of service to Mary queen of Scots as she prepares to leave Scotland and start her new life in France. Married to the dauphin, she is expected to be the queen of France for many years to come.
When the young King dies early, the young queen returns home to Scotland, she is hoping she can slip back into the land of her birth, but she soon finds that there are factions within the country that are not quite as happy with her return.
As their lives progress, they will all soon learn the value of friendship, and the secrets that can circulate around the court. None of them are quite as safe as they appear to be...

The story of the four Mary's was a fun read, although some of the facts seemed a little more skewed, Sarah Gristwood pulls together the story of the four ladies who stuck with their queen through thick and thin and did all that they could to keep their queen safe. The main character is Mary Seton, and her tales weaves from the leaving of Scotland, to the end of Seton's life. A fun and interesting read!

This was a terrible book. I didn't finish it because it was so poorly written and constructed. I was disappointed to say the least. Having read one of the author's other offerings, I thought it would be good.

When Mary, Queen of Scotts, was sent to France as a young child to be raised as a bride for the Dauphin, four young Scottish girls were sent along to grow in service for the future queen. As all four girls were named Mary like their young mistress, they were often referred to by their last names. This novel tells the story of Mary Smeaton as she serves in the wake of the tumultuous life of her sovereign.
A reader who is not familiar with the life of Mary, Queen of Scotts, may have trouble with this book. Names and events are often mentioned without any real explanation. Smeaton seems to often just be on the periphery with no real understanding of what is really going on around her. Therefore the reader often feels just as lost. Thank you to NetGalley and Endeavor Press for this copy for review.

I am voluntarily submitting my honest review after receiving an ARC of this ebook from NetGalley.

This book offers a unique perspective on the much covered topic of Mary Queen of Scots by telling the story of her reign in Scotland through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting, Mary Seton. By using Seton as the window into the events of those turbulent years, the author offers a more dispassionate view of events than seen through the conventional approach of telling the story through the queen herself, and Seton allows us to be privy to the rumors swirling around the court, as well as the mood and feelings of the courtiers as events sweep Scotland and her people along. While it is highly unlikely the queen would ever hear directly and precisely what was being said about her at any given time both within the court and amongst the populace, and she certainly would have no idea of any potential plots being hatched Seton wouldn't necessarily be so shielded. Overall, this was an enjoyable, but unsettling read. The desperate sense of loneliness and martyrdom to family duty faced by both monarch and lady-in-waiting alike shines through in the most heartbreaking, but oddly uplifting devotion Seton shows Queen Mary throughout her entire life. The Queen's Mary offers a front row seat to one of history's most dramatic, crazy and ultimately tragic reigns.

History - Mary Queen of Scots and a new aspect of her tumultuous history. She had four ladies in waiting all called Mary. It was almost like joining a nunnery because they had to dedicate their lives and they all did to the wishes, beliefs and life of Queen Mary.



1548 and five little girls are taken from their homes in Scotland for training in France all to serve another Mary. With only vague recollections of their Scottish roots they train in France till one day a decade later they are called back to serve in their homeland. The upheaval, the uprooting, the difficulty of adapting to a new, different, harsher way of life which will show reality in all its ugliness now awaits them. Their loyalties will be tested and for Mary Seaton especially the times are going to be hard.



How she has to chart a future for herself as well without endangering in any way the views and life of the Queen are going to be a challenge for Seton. She serves the longest and she knows the Queen or thinks she knows her the best. But does she?



This aspect of Mary Queen of Scots was from a more personal side of history - her life the way it started, how she was maneuvered into not just one marriage, coerced into another and how keeping up with the formidable Elizabeth on the other side was not going to be a life of much ease. Told from the personal aspect of the women who served her, this was an uncommonly good read.

Goodreads, Amazon and on my blog all reviews posted 9/1/2017

Mary Queen of Scots is one of my very favorite historical figures. (Which isn't easy, given that her cousin, Elizabeth I, is my all-time favorite Tudor.) I have read numerous books about the life of Mary Queen of Scots, and couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. "Queen's Mary" is told from the perspective of one of the four Marys who served the Queen. As children they were friends. Once Queen Mary arrived at court, so did her childhood friends as ladies-in-waiting. This Mary, outliving the queen by many years, tells the story of Queen Mary's life at different points from flashbacks and remembrances. I absolutely loved it. Any Tudor-lover would devour this book and add it to their treasured collection, as I have.

tl;dr Review:

Couldn't even finish the book.

Full Review:



I generally hate talking poorly about any book because as a writer, I know how much it sucks when someone critiques your baby. And it wasn't the writing really that made this book unbearable to me, but either way, I couldn't even finish it.

Sometimes we don't connect with books and that's ok (who am I trying to convince here? hahaha). I really did give it the old college try, but ultimately I felt like this book never got off the ground.

The Queen's Mary tells the story of Mary Seton, a lady-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots. I was initially intrigued by the description of the book, including "Torn between her own desires and her duty to serve her mistress, she is ultimately drawn into her Queen's web of passion and royal treachery - and must play her part in the game of thrones between Mary and Elizabeth I."

Don't get me wrong, I'm usually all about some Tudor era drama and I love fantastic historical fiction.

Sadly though, this book just did not do it for me.

I think part of my problem is that the book starts when Mary and the ladies in waiting are very young (think like 5 or so). I struggle relating to stories when the main characters are children.

I know others love to read the entire arc of these characters lives, but unless they progress in age very quickly, I generally don't.

For those who love a winding historical fiction where you follow your protagonist from a young age all the way through, you may enjoy this book. It was rich in historical detail and it captured the era well.

As much as I tried though, I just could not get through it and ultimately ended up not even finishing the book.

Gristwood brings to life the story of one of history's most misunderstood monarchs in this beautifully crafted tale. The Queen's Mary is a richly woven tapestry of life in court service and all of the perks and disadvantages it brought. Though this is a fictional narrative, the author sticks close to the historical facts, and it's clear why she is one of our most celebrated Tudor historians. If you're looking for a new perspective on Mary Queen of Scots, you won't want to miss this one.

I loved this book. I never realised there were four Mary's. It was so interesting and it was great to go behind the scenes to find out what was really happening and how many people involved to ultimately protect Mary Queen of Scots.

Loved it!!! At first I was a little confused the way it keep talking about all the different Mary’s but once I got it down I loved it