I like to nerd out with some history as much as the next person and a lot of times the books that are available are stuffy or read like a text book. This is so well done. I listened to the audio book and thought it would be a good one to set the timer and maybe fall asleep but I ended up snoozing the timer and kept listening. I learned so much it was insane. I knew the royal families were crazy connected, but to learn how even just three women impacted European history was insane. I definitely want to learn more and will gladly read any addition books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Young Queens is well written and kept me engaged from start to finish. Chang masterfully ties together the stories of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary Queen of Scots, illuminating the trials and tribulations they each faced and the changing roles they played over their lifetimes. The role each of these women played for the country and the way they held (and lost) power over their lives make for a fascinating web of political intrigue but Chang balances this intensity with personal anecdotes. Chang’s readable prose also make this more accessible than other books on similar topics. Overall I would highly recommend this book.

If I write that this is a Middle Ages history book for women, there will be some individuals (you know who you are) that will skip this book. And yet, I've had to read books from male-only perspective for my entire life. This has never been a period (pun intended!) of time that interested me. But this book made me reconsider. I had no idea that there were such detailed records of the menstruation of the powerful women of 1500-1600. The ways they had to forgo love or affection from everyone around them in order to run the business of their empires is so courageous. Coupled with the "use" of rape and sexual exploitation to undermine a queen's authority and restructure the future of the world, this was an eye-opening read. I will certainly be reading more of the authors works.

This book grabbed from from the beginning, with its persuasive and fresh look at three women, famous and infamous, from a very female point of view. I have a fresh understanding of Mary Queen of Scotts and Catherine Medici, as well as a much more fleshed out View of Spanish Queen Elizabeth. Showing the familial care from a young age made all the difference, especially as I understood, perhaps for the first time, how it was that Mary became so adrift and mired in her vast mistakes. I now feel I have a much fuller grasp of what happened in those pivotal years, and why. Highly recommend.
The narration is smooth and entertaining. I had intended to more slowly read this, but I found myself unable to stop listening. For nonfiction, the credit must lie with both the author and the narrator, who so expertly drew me in. 5 Stars!

Thank you to Leah Redmond Chang, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review!

I love combined biographies that compare the lives of two or more connected individuals such as Sister Queens by Julia Fox (who compared and contrasted the lives of Catherine of Aragon and her sister Juana, Queen of Castile) and Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon. Examining the lives of historical figures in this way highlights how these different individuals encountered similar struggles, often mirroring each other, and how they confronted those challenges.

Leah Chang's Young Queens centers on the entwined lives of Catherine de Medici, her daughter Elizabeth, Queen of Spain, and her daughter-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots. These three women encountered very similar struggles and even all lived together for a time even as their roles in their society were very different. I particularly liked how Chang emphasized the similar backgrounds Catherine and Mary had in both being the daughters of French noblewomen who traveled to foreign countries for marriage and how they both ended up retracing their mothers' steps by coming to France themselves as royal brides. The differences and conflict between Catherine and Mary are often the primary focus of any examination of their relationship. While their dynamic is not white washed in this, it is refreshing to see their commonalities and even the positive moments in their relationship explored as well.

The highlight of this book for me were the in depth details on Elizabeth, Queen of Spain. There are several biographies of the other two women, but Elizabeth has very little coverage. So it was refreshing to learn more about her and how her life compared to the lives of her mother and sister-in-law.

One major criticism I have for the book is the personal opinion being presented without evidence. The biggest issue with this was how Elizabeth I of England's abuse at the hands of Thomas Seymour was romanticized as consensual. The evidence around Elizabeth's abuse shows her trying to prevent his abuse, not acting as a consenting party in it. Since Elizabeth I is not even a main focus of the biography, I found it particularly odd that this inaccurate bias was shoehorned in.

As engaging as this biography is, this does not stand alone as a biography for any of the three women. This is primarily focused on how their lives were interwoven with each other and how they confronted similar challenges as royal women navigating Renaissance Europe. Once they stop heavily interacting, the details of their lives are glossed over or not mentioned. Individual biographies for these women would still be essential in gaining their full life stories.

This is a very well-organized and thorough overview of three Queens: Catherine de Medici of France, her daughter Elisabeth de Valois, who became Queen of Spain, and Mary Stuart, or Mary, Queen of Scots. The book begins with the childhoods of Elizabeth and Mary in Catherine's French court, and ends with each of their deaths. I found the writing engaging and enjoyed the purpose of this book -- to show how three women gained and maintained power, illustrating how Queens managed nations that had anything but faith in their gender.

Sixteenth century France isn't a period that I know much about. I enjoy historical books and particularly geeked out over Elisabeth's interest in the art of the Renaissance that she was born into, but these women and their stories were mostly new to me. I was curious about the connection between this nonfiction work and some historical figures from fiction that I enjoy, and I learned that Mary Stuart was Bonnie Prince Charles of Outlander fame's great aunt, as Lucrezia de Medici from The Marriage Portrait is Catherine's grand-niece. I love those fictionalizations, as I enjoyed learning about the lives of these historical women.

Overall, I found their lives … sad. I think that Catherine made out the best in the end, but Elisabeth was perhaps actually loved and thrived, although that's open to interpretation as well. And, I mean, Mary wasn't exactly thriving for most of her life. There's a period in the beginning where everyone is enjoying a happy life together in Paris, and perhaps that's how I'll choose to remember them all – Mary, with her bubbly personality, Elisabeth, the gentle daughter of Catherine, reigning as a true Renaissance Queen.

Three powerful women whose lives in the sixteenth century were extraordinary.

Catherine de Medici, Mary Queen of Scots and Elisabeth de Valois wrote to each other and others as their lives and experiences intertwined.

This brilliant book brought the lives of these women to life. I listened to the audiobook which was very well narrated and I would highly recommend. Very well written book about the lives of these women in a time where men ruled.

I'm not usually a nonfiction reader but after visiting Scotland last year and Stirling Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots spent a lot of time, I was curious to learn more! Chang added plenty of background material without being dry and I was riveted the entire time.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Olivia Dowd. I'm very picky about narrators but I really liked her and would listen to anything she narrated!

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for sending this book for review consideration, all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Leah Redmond Chang
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

Queen consort, sovereign queen, and queen mother. This (audio)book focuses on the three queens and their younger years.

Catherine de Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary Queen of Scots are three remarkable women from the Renaissance era. Catherine de Medici, a commoner born into the Medici family of Florence, would rise to become the Queen of France. Elisabeth de Valois was her daughter and wife of Philip II of Spain. Mary Queen of Scots was crowned a queen in her infancy. She was exiled, imprisoned, and ultimately executed.

Young Queens is a very intriguing book and doesn’t feel like non-fiction. Although it’s pretty long, it’s interesting until the end.

The narration is excellent.

Thanks to Recorded Books for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

A great look into the lives of three queens, who were all fated to unhappy lives.

This was an interest book overall, but would highly recommend this one to readers who are newer to history. Catherine de Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots were in a time when women could hardly wield power without a male counterpart (although Elizabeth I disproved that notion).

Interesting read, well laid out, and full of great information. I enjoyed this one!

Exploring Renaissance Women's Politics

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Can you write a review for Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power by Leah Redmond Chang based on the following: i quite liked this book, I think it was a good way to explore women's lives in politics during this time in history. I didn't know much about any of them, so this worked very well as an introduction to these historical figures. I do think that if you already know a lot about this period and these queens you might not find it interesting since it balances all of them as well as it can, never giving one too much prominence. This book can get a little tricky to read at times, with the jumps between queens and situations, and I do feel like some aspects could have been examinated further. I really enjoyed this book as it portrayed three women I have long heard about but only was familiar with the story of Mary in detail. Catherine de Medici lived a long life, outliving most of her children and oversaw a lot of turmoil in France including war and religious conflict. She used her influence via her daughter in Spain to build alliances to protect her country. Elizabeth is a figure of whom little is known beside official records and the letters she shared with her mother, here she is given life. The book is very readable for a scholarly biography and hits a gap by not focusing on the Tudors, but looking at the bigger European picture.

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"Leah Redmond Chang's 'Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power' is a captivating exploration of women's involvement in politics during a crucial era. For those unfamiliar with the historical figures covered, this book serves as an excellent introduction, shedding light on lesser-known aspects of their lives. The balanced approach to the queens' narratives prevents any one figure from overshadowing the others, which might disappoint those well-versed in this period. While the book occasionally struggles with its transitions between queens and situations, it offers a compelling portrayal of Mary, Catherine de Medici, and Elizabeth. The depth given to Catherine's long and tumultuous life, Elizabeth's enigmatic existence, and Mary's detailed story is a standout. Though some aspects could have been further explored, the book's readability makes it an accessible scholarly biography that adeptly widens its focus beyond the Tudors, contributing to a richer understanding of European history.

An extensive account on three incredibly interesting women in the 16th century. That effort has been put into the text was very clear and I wish I had read this instead of listen to it. I know the basics about the century and had of course heard about Catherine de Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary, Queen of Scots before but… well… it’s royal and noble circles in the 16th century. Everybody is called the same. Listening to and keeping track of all Catherines, Elizabeths, Annes etc etc was a bit difficult. However, this is, of course, a me problem.

To learn more about history and specifically about women who shaped history is always nice and helps putting things together. These ladies were known to each other. They hated, loved, respected one another in the grand game of European politics.

Olivia Dowd did a good job narrating. I have no complaints.

This is a biography of not one, but three Renaissance queens - Catherine de' Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots - following how they were first a tight knit family and then, later, as husbands and kingdoms made demands, they found themselves split apart and often on differing sides of political and religious issues.

The first half when we see how close these queens were, Mary Elizabeth first in the same royal nursery followed by Mary's marriage to Elizabeth's brother, with Catherine carefully overseeing them, was, for me, the more interesting part as their later various dooms and/or bad reputations are what is known about them, so it was fascinating to see how things started - and in such a different place.

A wonderful new look at the time period through the lens of these fascinating women.

Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power was a delight to listen to, as detailed as it was engaging. The ladies at the heart of the story are Queen Consort (and later Queen Mother) Catherine de Medici, her daughter, Elizabeth of Valois, and her daughter-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots. All three lived together for years at French court before fate and misfortune sent them their separate ways: Mary back to Scotland, Elizabeth to Spain, and Catherine to the height of power in France. Young Queens is a long read primarily because of the many small details Chang includes about their daily lives, from their living arrangements to the many letters they sent each other throughout the years. Yet Young Queens is nevertheless an accessible read, clearly written for a general audience and eschewing the tiresome explanations often found in academic works (granted, I would have liked to hear Chang's reasoning for believing that Mary became queen at nine days old; every other source I've read has always said six).

Elizabeth is the least commanding of the trio, both due to her short life and timid manner. The young princess had a talent for winning over everyone she met, but she was primarily a tool of her mother and husband for most of her life. Chang strikes a good balance with her depiction of Catherine: the Medici queen is written sympathetically, but not romantically. She is not the devil history has painted her as, but she is still a cunning and often duplicitous politician. As for Mary, we are shown her evolution from a pampered and haughty child queen to the abused and abandoned woman she would become. Alison Weir has described Mary Stuart as "the most wronged woman in history," and after reading Young Queens, it's hard to disagree. So many things had to go wrong for Mary to end up where she did, and despite her beauty and station, the Scottish queen was sorely lacking in luck.

The greatest missed opportunity of this book comes in the form of Mary's mother, the Queen Regent of Scotland, Marie de Guise. Marie protected her daughter's inheritance and was arguably better suited to rule than Mary was. Chang makes a point of emphasizing how Mary, Elizabeth, and Catherine represented three types of female rule: Queen Regnant, Queen Consort, and Queen Mother. To not include the Queen Regent seems like a major oversight. Similarly, Mary's connection to her son feels underdeveloped. Thomas Cogswell makes a compelling argument in James I: The Phoenix King that the young king resented the separation from his mother and eventually took his revenge on her persecutors, but Chang portrays James as cold and indifferent to his mother. She does not even mention how James had a new tomb constructed for Mary in England after ascending to the English throne, which would have at least provided a silver lining for the queen whose obsession with ruling England helped lead to her ruin.

Herein lies the greatest flaw with Young Queens. After hundreds of pages of engrossing storytelling, the book just sort of . . . ends. There's no greater thesis tying the women together beyond that they were all queens who lived under one roof for a time. Even biographies generally conclude with an analysis of the subject's character and impact. But while the three may have been family, their lives differed so wildly that it's hard to compare them. Catherine's years of protecting her sons' thrones were ultimately in vain, as they each died without a son. Elizabeth wielded little power and died in childbirth. Mary's life was destroyed, but her family held onto the crown. Their stories, however fascinating, are separate, and Chang does not find a way to tie them together. This makes for a disappointing end to what was an otherwise excellent book.

Young Queens tells the history of strong female monarchs during the Renaissance period. The book talks about how three queens, Catherine de' Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots, lived through all the changes in Eastern Europe as empires expanded and ideas of nationalism began to rise. Their stories, starting with Catherine de' Medici are intertwined, and together, learned that to rule as a queen was to wage a constant war against the deeply entrenched misogyny of their time. This audiobook was narrated by Olivia Dowd.

In a world and time period dominated by men, I was in complete awe by the power and resilience these women practiced in order to attain power of their own rights. I really enjoyed how the book tells a narrative that really exemplifies the strength each Queens had throughout their lives. The narrative was written as a story which made it more engaging. I was learning about history and yet, it felt like I was reading a novel. The author, Olivia Dowd, narrated with such enthusiasm and energy that she was able to just grab my attention and made me want to keep listening.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Leah Redmond Chang, and Macmillian publishing for allowing me the chance to listen to the audiobook in exchange for an honest book review.

I enjoyed the audio narration of this story and the unique intertwining of the three stories. I did find a little bit hard to follow at times given how many characters had the same name but that was no fault of the author. I also found the jumping around to be a little confusing and hard to follow.

This was a good story about three young queens during the Renaissance. The author did a good job weaving this together as a story rather than a series of research facts. Personally, I think I would've enjoyed the book more if I already had a little general background knowledge of the players of this period, but I don't fault the author in this at all.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Fascinating book about three queens: Mary, Queen of Scotland, Elizabeth, queen of Spain, and her mother Catherine whose husband had been the King of France until he died. Ms Chang did some deep research and was able to make all her characters interesting. And periodically, she would remind the reader how old each queen was. I'd be reading along about this and that and suddenly the sentence "and Elizabeth was now 22 years old." All of them were so young, died so young, even Catherine didn't live beyond 60.
I find it compelling to compare women's lives back then, even the most entitled to women's lives today. Much has changed, we have the right to vote for instance but much has not changed.
Thank you to Ms Chang for writing this very thoughtful book about three very interesting women of the 16th century.

I loved this book. I’ve always been obsessed with the queens of this era so to listen to this as an audio book was truly thrilling. I enjoyed the historical accuracy and the use of the women’s letters to tell their story through their own words. I loved how the author interwove all their stories through the years and how similar they really were. This book was a 10/10 for me!

A great historical look into the early lives of Catherine de' Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots. I was not as familiar with these three Queens as I am on the history of British Queens, so I felt like I learned a great deal about these three. All three of these women were pawns in mens political games, but learned how to use that to their advantage.

I appreciated that this book focused mainly on their earlier lives as Queens as I feel most historical books tell the same stories over and over, mostly focusing on what they were famous for. I enjoyed learning about their lesser known earlier lives. Queen Elizabeth I was also featured in a good deal of this book, but given her relationship with Mary Queen of Scots, that was not surprising. I was surprised that more of Mary's imprisonment by Elizabeth was not delved into though, but again, I feel there is already so much written about that in other books, so I didn't mind it not being a main focus.

I think this book is great for anyone like me, that may not know as much about these three Queens but is eager to learn more.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.