Sarah Gristwood is an author of both historical fiction and non-fiction. I have read one of her non-fiction books – Blood Sisters, a biography of several of the women involved in the Wars of the Roses – but this is the first of her novels that I’ve read. It’s set in the 16th century and the queen of the title is Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary is known to have had four ladies-in-waiting, young women her own age who were also all called Mary. They were the daughters of Scottish nobility – Mary Fleming, Mary Livingston, Mary Beaton and Mary Seton. Gristwood’s novel is written from the perspective of Mary Seton.

We first meet the four Marys as children of five or six years old. It’s 1548 and they are embarking on a voyage to France where the young queen will grow up and eventually marry the Dauphin, the heir to the French throne. This forms the novel’s brief prologue and we hear very little about what actually happened in France, except when Seton looks back on the period later in her life:

"Seton could tell tales of Diane’s banquets where the white wine was made cool with snow, of music in the pavilions by the river; a tennis court where the king played dressed in white silk. Of a park where special deer wore silver collars and ornamental canals were filled with fish; and of how, when the royal children came to stay, muzzled mastiffs and even a bear were brought into the nursery."

We join the Marys again in 1561 as they return to Scotland following the death of the queen’s husband. They have now grown into young women, all with very different personalities: Fleming pretty and regal, Livingston down to earth and flirtatious, Beaton quietly passionate, and Seton herself sensible and thoughtful. However, it would have been nice if, rather than the author just telling us what the Marys were like (by comparing them to the four elements, earth, fire, water and air, for example) she had done more to convey their personalities through their speech and actions instead.

The rest of the novel takes us through the years of Mary’s reign, a troubled time of religious conflict, disastrous marriages and controversial love affairs. It can’t have been easy for a young woman returning after a long absence in France to rule over a country she barely remembered:

"It was as if the queen were groping to understand what to her – Seton thought with a chill – seemed almost to be an alien country."

The queen is lucky to have such loyal companions as the Marys to help her through these difficult years, but even they are unable to prevent her from making mistakes. She rarely confides in them or asks their advice, remaining a very lonely and isolated figure. Seen only through the eyes of Mary Seton, she never fully comes to life on the page and we never really know what she is thinking or feeling, but maybe that was intentional, to show the distance between the queen and her ladies, even after so many years together.

The story of Mary, Queen of Scots is fascinating but has been written about many times before; the stories of Mary Seton, Beaton, Livingston and Fleming are much less well known and the hope of finding out more about them was what drew me to this novel. I can appreciate that there will not be a lot of information available on the lives of these four women, but I think Sarah Gristwood did a good job of working with what we do know to flesh out each character a little bit. I do wonder, though, whether the story might have been more compelling if it had been written in the first person rather than the third, or if each Mary had been given a chance to take a turn at narrating rather than just Seton.

I did have a lot of sympathy for Mary Seton; she is the one who remains in the queen’s service as the other three gradually marry and find freedom (or if not freedom exactly, at least a form of escape) away from court. Seton’s whole life has been devoted to the queen and she gradually becomes torn between loyalty to her mistress, frustration at her lack of influence and a longing to break the bond and live her own life at last.

Although there was too much distance in this novel for me to say that I really enjoyed it (distance between one character and another, as well as distance between the characters and the reader) it was still good to have an opportunity to meet the Four Marys and to add to my knowledge of this period of history.

Four Marys are brought together to be the personal companions of the young Queen of Scots. Mary Seton, in particular, must weave her way through the politics of her time and choose where her loyalty lies.

To be honest, I did not leave this novel feeling as though I knew this woman at all. Yes, we see things through her eyes, but most of the time I felt outside of the situation. I never felt any real emotion from her, even though at times we are told she is angry.

I did learn a lot about Mary, Queen of Scots, that I didn't know before, but I didn't approach this as a history lesson.

Overall, it was interesting but didn't pull me in. I would recommend this to readers who would enjoy learning more about the Queen of Scots.

Nicola Tallis together with Sarah Gristwood is one of the resident historians on Alison Weir's Tudor themed historical tours.

I have previously read her excellent non-fiction history book “Blood Sisters; The Women behind the War of the Roses” which served as a brilliant non-fictional companion to Philippa Gregory’s Cousins fictional Cousins War series of novels (some of which were televised as The White Queen).

Here Gristwood effectively writes a fictional companion to her own non-fictional work – “Game of Queens” where Mary Stuart comes across as an anomaly – the weakest of the royal women who made 16th Century Europe.

In this novel Gristwood, inspired (as is clear from the Historical Q&A Notes at the end of the book) by her own historical researches uses fiction to give a more sympathetic portrayal of Queen Mary Stuart, written from the key viewpoint of one of the four Mary’s (Livingstone, Fleming, Beaton, Seton) who served as her lady’s in waiting.

This is a book that will appeal to fans of Philippa Gregory – just like her writing it brings to life the period in which it was set, with a focus on women of influence in a still vastly male dominated society. Just like Gregory, Gristwood brings in witchcraft. Perhaps the biggest difference in approach is that whereas Gregory so often uses the first person, Gristwood uses the third person and even at times, switches away to other points of view.

My thanks to Endeavour Press for an ARC via NetGalley.

"The Queen's Mary" isn't bad, or poorly written, or anything like that. But it left me cold anyway. I think one reason is that the protagonist seems to have little in the way of personality or character compared with those around her. Between that and the fact that she learns of, rather than witnesses, many of the pivotal events, I was left wondering why she was chosen to be the reader's eyes and ears, so to speak. The book would have been much more interesting and less distancing, in my opinion, were just about any other character the protagonist instead.

This is a wonderful historical fiction book from the perspective of one of the queens servants.

I really enjoyed this book. Excellent storyline and great main characters. I would recommend this book.

THIS BOOK WAS SO INTERESTING! I had never read a book from this point of view and I was enthralled! It sheds light on what happens behind the scenes of court and how many secrets and spies lie in wait

Aged just five, Mary Seton boards a ship bound for France and her life is never her own again. Mary is one of the four chosen ladies who accompany Mary Stuart to France to be raised in her maternal family and affianced to the Dauphin of France. Mary learns manners, etiquette and how to serve a great Queen until the day the Dauphin dies and, after a period of mourning, Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to claim her throne. Unfortunately things are not so straightforward and Mary Seton is a silent witness to scandal, murder and more as her mistress wins and loses her inheritance.

Gristwood is an excellent biographer, her book about Arbella Stuart is terrific, but this is the first fiction of hers that I have read. The premise is great, the four Marys are renowned as the ladies in waiting to Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Seton being with her throughout her captivity and at her execution. Unfortunately the book never really caught fire for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written historical novel about the early life of Mary Queen of Scots. Told through the words of one of her Marys, one of 4 handmaidens or ladies in service to the queen, the story of this tragic queen comes to life brilliantly. One of my 2017 recommendations for sure, and I will be looking for more from this talented author.

Gristwood is novelizing the periphery of the Tudor/Stuart court, this time the lives of Mary Stuart's four ladies in waiting. There's real potential here, except that she never makes the four women into identifiable characters, stays in third person, dropping on on them at seemingly random times, and gives no indication other than their jobs of why they'd stay loyal or attached to the Queen. Imagining this told in rotating first-person pov makes it immediately a lot better, but the author didn't, and it's not.