Unlike cousin Elizabeth I of England, Mary enjoyed a richly cosseted and loving childhood and youth arriving back in Scotland then-a Scotland bristling with religious ferment, plots, and a history of regencies-is a shock, at first bewildering, then exhilarating. George has created a lively, gallant Mary of intelligence, charm, and terrible judgment-in outline true enough, and fictionally persuasive. The Scots queen (1542-1587), crowned at nine months, shipped out for a French marriage at seven, became queen of France at 16 for a year and a half, then returned to Scotland after the death of the French king-to four years of early triumph and then tragedy, two marriages, warfare, betrayal, power struggles, dazzling escapes, and, at the last, a flight to England-and doom.
By the author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII (1986), another vast involvement with a legendary royal.
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