Ever since the beginning, Mary Tudor has always been "Bloody Mary" to me. History has picked a side with this English monarch, and it has not been kind to her. It's taken years for me to be open-minded enough about Mary to be able to look beyond the Elizabethan propaganda that dogged her legacy. Jean Plaidy removes the final nail in the coffin and blows open all of Mary's complexities. What follows is a nuanced portrait of a tragic yet determined woman who became England's first queen regnant.

I can't help but wonder what Mary would've been like if her father hadn't treated her mother so abominably, let alone what England would look like today. Instead we have the case of Henry VIII and his six wives. Through each wife, Mary's fortunes rise and fall. Under Anne Boleyn, her life is a misery, and you can't help but pity the poor girl. I firmly believe that her fanaticism in religion was fostered at this time, as it was her final link to her devout mother. The cruelty doesn't end when Anne's beheaded. The next four queens try to form a relationship with Mary, but she persists in being her father's bastard. Yet, she is full of kindness. This younger Mary is more tolerant of her Protestant friends like Katherine Parr, and she generously gives her half-sister Elizabeth money so that she can have new clothes. If Mary had been shown more affection, if she'd been given a kind husband at a younger age, I think history would've been kinder to her overall, and it's such a shame.

Mary is intelligent and determined. She is every inch the queen. The people love her, and she shows great astuteness as she navigates the days following her brother Edward's death and Jane Grey's unexpected ascension. If she could've been more tolerant and if she didn't marry Phillip of Spain, she could've had a more empowering legacy. She was England's first queen regnant! Unfortunately, this is overshadowed by her reign's failures, of which there are several. As Mary continues her downward spiral, Plaidy still shows her as a complex figure. Fanatical and desperate, but also someone who didn't want to cause unnecessary pain, someone who was desperately trying to patch things up with her sister.

Truly, I was surprised by how much closer Mary and Elizabeth were compared to how I was led to believe by pop culture. You can't help but pity both women who couldn't believe in love thanks to their cruel father.

This fictional memoir of Mary is a must-read for any Tudor historian. Forget what you thought you knew about Mary. This story will rock you to your core. There is a reason I docked it a star, though, and that's because I wish Plaidy had explored other facets of Mary's reign, such as how she laid the groundwork for transatlantic exploration that Elizabeth later built upon. It would've been nice to see Mary really shine as queen, and not just some delusional tragedy. ( )

The Queens of England series is Jean Plaidy's retelling of novels she's already written. The difference being the earlier novels are in the third person; TQOE books are in first person.

“In the Shadow of the Crown” is about Mary I. Or at least it’s supposed to be. Like the other books in the series, this one features many events that the narrator has no direct involvement in, so the story has many dry second-hand reports. This, to me, makes the point of rewriting a third-person narrative as a first-person one pointless.

The story opens with Mary’s birth, which she naturally has no memory of, so we get what she’s learned of the famous Cloth of Gold incident between her father Henry VIII and Francois I of France. This has no place in a first-person novel about Mary I. It bears no relevance on her personal history. You could argue it’s written by an author unfamiliar with the writing term, ‘murder your darlings.’

Dry accounts of historic events that don’t feature Mary pop up often in this driest, and possibly worst, book I’ve read by Jean Plaidy.

When Mary is involved in a scene, we often get blatant telling and reported speech:

‘I received a call from Chancellor Rich, who informed me that the Act of Uniformity must be obeyed by all, and there could be no exceptions. I told him that I would worship in my own way, and I knew from his response that he would be afraid to take drastic action against me.’

While we get lengthy and dry second-hand accounts about Henry VIII’s wives, scenes that feature Mary are rushed over. Her meeting with Philip of Bavaira, with whom marriage was on the cards, is not dramatized at all. This is the sort of thing that should’ve been developed to bring Mary’s personal experiences to life but this is one of several that’s treated like a footnote.

A lack of revision is evident with sentences like, ‘“Who is it who will be our new stepmother?” asked Elizabeth impatiently,’ and, ‘He told me how great was his pleasure in beholding me, and I replied that I was glad I pleased him.’ This is first draft material.

After much reporting on Anne of Cleeves, Mary states, ‘I did hear that, when he left her, he gave vent to his anger. There were plenty who heard it and were ready to report it.’

Sadly, the author was ‘ready to report’ far too much.

Following lengthy reports of Buckingham, including his resentment of Wolsey, Mary states, ‘I should not have known anything of this at the time, as I was only five years old,’ which again highlights the lack of significance regarding Mary’s personal story.

More lengthy reporting follows on events Mary hasn’t witnessed:

‘I imagined the pageants, the speeches of welcome, the plays performed for the Emperor's enjoyment. I wished that I could see them: the wonderful tableaux which sprang to life as the Emperor approached, representing the two rulers embracing. There was one, I heard, representing England.’

Reporting on Katherine Parr, Mary states, ‘I only know what I heard later of that interview,’
and: ‘There were several to witness this scene, so I had an accurate report of what happened.’

Some paragraphs, like the one below, read like a textbook:

‘On the 22nd of June Bishop Fisher went out to Tower Hill and was beheaded. On the 6th of July Sir Thomas followed him. A silent sullen crowd looked on. This was the King's answer. No matter who disobeyed him, they should die. The execution of Sir Thomas More sent a shiver through the country and waves of indignation abroad.’

Flowery language makes the lack of drama even more tedious: ‘I would be thirteen years old in the February of the following year.’ I would’ve preferred the more concise, ‘I’d be thirteen next February.’

I skipped over many paragraphs in this novel the moment I realised another over-long description of one Henry’s wives was underway, in which Mary has no direct involvement.

From the other books I’ve read by this author set during this period, it’s clear that Ms Plaidy was fascinated by Anne Boleyn. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but she can’t last long without mentioning Anne, either by name or suggestion, and it’s irritating. She does so in this and every other book set during Henry VIII’s reign. As mentioned, this author wouldn’t ‘murder her darlings’ for the good of the story.

Anyone who’s unfamiliar with this period in history might find the facts and info included of interest. If, like me, you want to read a gripping story, filled with tension and drama, that brings the main character to life, then you’ll be disappointed.

Something about Jean Plaidy’s books keep me coming back for more. Perhaps it’s her obvious love for English and French history, which I share, that draws me back. I wish she’d focused less on turning out as greater quantity of novels as possible and concentrated more on quality writing. A novel like this one should be revised about 20 times, yet this at best feels like a second draft. This was badly put together. Endless second-hand reports, most of which have no relevance to Mary I, ruin what could've been a great novel. ( )

I loved this book and can't believe I had never heard of Jean Plaidy, a writer of more than 200 books. I think the reason why I liked this one so much, was that although I've read a few books on the Tudors, not one on Mary, and I'm greatly lacking in knowledge of the period, so much so until I had read this, I could never quiet get all of Mary's father's wives clearly in my mind, and had always assumed that he had lopped off all his wive's heads.

Although a bit told, it would difficult to tell such a life story on an epic scale, written otherwise. I think Jean Plaidy tells the story well, following Mary from a young child till her death, and in turn we see all of Henry VIIIs wives, and the effect his choices had on his daughter. From a Princess, first in line to the throne to a bastard, pushed back with each successive child from his other wives.

I liked that it provided an insight into all the women Henry VIII married and her half sister, Elizabeth who would ascend the throne after Mary as Elizabeth I, as well as the state of mind Mary may very well have had througout her tuberlant life and reign plus an insight of what her brief and childless marriage to her Spanish cousin, Philip II might have been like. ( )

I have read a lot of books about Mary Tudor and this book was one of the few books that truly portrayed Mary's entire life as it may have actually been without exaggerating her life extensively.

Mary Tudor was the apple of King Henry VIII's eye, and the darling of England as a child. However, that all changed when Anne Boleyn showed up. An intelligent child, so unaware of the turmoil around her since her birth, and so desperate for love. And because of the love that she was deprived of so constantly (the forced separation between her and Queen Katharine and everyone she is close with), she turned to religion. Through her religious beliefs and lack of love, she so willingly and freely falls in love with the idea of love and religion through Phillip of Spain, who ultimately breaks her heart and brings her country to ruin.

Poor Mary, she could have been such a passionate and loving person if it weren't for the tragedies in her life. Both her and Elizabeth Tudor grew up in similar environment yet both grasped and handled their hardships differently. Mary did not deserve the title "Bloody Mary", after all she had good intentions when she first began her reign. While she clearly was a religious Catholic fanatic, she certainly wasn't a tyrant or unreasonable ruler in any sense, not compared to King Henry VIII or King John. ( )

The straightforward story of Queen Mary I. Born to Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife whom he divorced, Mary led an unhappy life. A staunch Catholic, she was appalled at the idea of Henry leaving the church over his divorce to Katherine and marriage to Anne Boleyn. Mary's relationship to Elizabeth, Anne's daughter, was one of constant mistrust. Mary did inherit the throne upon the death of young Edward, the son of Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife. She was very unprepared to rule and was extremely naive. Her main goal was to bring England back to the Catholic Church, but by this time, there were many Protestants and their influence was strong. Mary's solution was to bring people back to the church through fear, thus many "heretics" (Protestants) were burned at the stake which caused her to become known as Bloody Mary. Mary did marry Phillip of Spain, but that marriage was for political purposes only and she was greatly disappointed. Adding to her sorrow, was the inability to get pregnant although she suffered through several false pregnancies (probably dropsy). Her life was one of sorrow, disappointment, wishful thinking, and fear.

Plaidy tells Mary's story in a thoroughly researched manner which lacks "spirit' at times. However, it is a informative read about the life of a very sad queen. ( )