by RoderickGraham (Author)
Based on contemporary documents and histories, Roderick Graham paints a unique picture of Mary that sees her neither as a Catholic martyr, nor as a husband-murdering adulteress, but as a young girl adrift in the dangerous seas of sixteenth-century politics. Mary Stuart had none of the ruthlessness of her contemporary sisters, and the female empowerment of Catherine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers or Elizabeth Tudor passed her by. In an age of intellectually brilliant and powerful women, Mary relied on her beauty and charm in place of reason and determination. Passively and gracefully, she allowed events to overtake her as accidents and when she did attempt to control her future she unwittingly set in a train of events that would lead her to the executioner's block.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 476
Edition: illustrated edition
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Published: 07 Mar 2008
ISBN 10: 1841585513
ISBN 13: 9781841585512
'A superb book ... I couldn't put it down'
-- Jenny Wormald'a fair and compelling account'
* Sunday Herald *Roderick Graham was educated at the Royal High School of Edinburgh and Edinburgh University before serving with the Royal Army Education Corps as Staff Officer (Education) East Africa Command. He subsequently enjoyed a long and varied career in television and radio as a writer, freelance director and producer, and worked for a period as Head of Drama for BBC TV Scotland. He has also taught writing and directing at Napier and Leeds Metropolitan Universities, Edinburgh College of Art and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He is the author of the critically acclaimed John Knox: Democrat (Hale, 2001) and The Great Infidel: A Life of David Hume. He lives in Edinburgh.