Anne Somerset
The Scottish Widow
'My Heart is My Own': The Life of Mary Queen of Scots
By John Guy
Fourth Estate 574pp £20 order from our bookshop
HOT ON THE heels of Jane Dunn’s wonderfully readable Elizabeth and Mary comes this biography of Mary Queen of Scots by John Guy. One might assume that another book on this subject would be superfluous, but it quickly becomes clear that this is far from the case. While not so elegantly written as Dunn’s study, this is a work of great importance, crammed with electrifying new material from archives in England, Scotland and France.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Great essay by Seán Williams @WiggishHistory in @Lit_Review
A small country "may not have aircraft carriers or regiments of tanks. But guided by an unerring moral compass, it can triumph over even the most fearsomely armed opponent." https://twitter.com/WiggishHistory/status/1278425792385613835
'Like many works that touch on Churchill, this book takes on some of his characteristics: a jaunty prose style, a capacity for confident generalisation and a whiff of bullshit.'
Richard Vinen is unpersuaded by 'The Churchill Myths'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/blood-toil-tears-brexit
'It’s history from a bird’s-eye view. From that perspective, we humans are a passing phenomenon.'
Nigel Andrew on three contrasting books about birds by @RSmythFreelance, @JenGAckerman & @JonathanSlaght.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-gyrfalcon