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Mary I: Queen of Sorrows

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Mary I: Queen of Sorrows

By: Alison Weir
Narrated by: Julie Maisey
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About this listen

Sunday Times bestselling novelist Alison Weir returns with the spellbinding story of Mary I.

A DESTINY REWRITTEN. A ROYAL HEART DIVIDED.

Adored only child of Henry VIII and his Queen, Katherine of Aragon, Princess Mary is raised in the golden splendour of her father's court. But the King wants a son and heir.

With her parents' marriage, and England, in crisis, Mary's perfect world begins to fall apart. Exiled from the court and her beloved mother, she seeks solace in her faith, praying for her father to bring her home. But when the King does promise to restore her to favour, his love comes with a condition.

The choice Mary faces will haunt her for years to come - in her allegiances, her marriage and her own fight for the crown. Can she become the queen she was born to be?

MARY I. HER STORY.

Alison Weir's new Tudor novel is the tale, full of drama and tragedy, of how a princess with such promise, loved by all who knew her, became the infamous Bloody Mary.

©2024 Alison Weir (P)2024 Headline Publishing Group Ltd Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Renaissance Royalty King Tudor Heartfelt England

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I loved a book at last that came from mary l. in my opinion she is always pushed to the side for the other tudors. some things I can't get. there is no way she did not know what intimacy involved.
also her wishy washy attitude towards elizabeth. 1minute she likes her and is her sister, next minute she is in every plot and now she hates elizabeth, then she supposedly not even henry daughter. there is no way how staunch mary was that she would have had elizabeth as heir if she really thought she was mark Smeaton. every body knows that elizabeth looked more like her father than any of them. still a good book and worth the credit if you don't know about the tudors but every storyline I knew from beggining to end. my fault for buying the book. if your new to tudors you will like it. People complain about the narrator I thought she was good 👍

mary dislike for elizabeth it was wishy washy.

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Julie Macey read this book just brilliant. Clear, professional and seemed to catch all the Characters male as well as female perfectly.
I don't often listen to fiction but this was really easy to read to and you felt like the fly on the wall as it journeyed throught her life.
Mary's childhood wasn't too long so it got into the interesting parts soon enough.
I did sympathise with Mary till the burnings.
Being a Protestant convert from Catholicism it didn't endear her to me any further. But left me wondering why such a cruel act even existed in a Christian country.
Being Irish I xant say Elisabeth 1st reign endeared me to her either as She did terrible things in Ireland.
But on the good side this is my first Alison Weir book and I really enjoyed it and would definitely investigate her other titles.

A real joy to listen to

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Another great book by Alison Weir, the story follows her life from daughter of a king, to sister of the king to, being Queen to death.
There was lots to the story then you would fist think when it comes to Mary I, I did think that she was a bit too innocent in aspects of the marriage bed and you would think she had some more knowledge in real life

Another great book!

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Nothing to dislike, just saying this to make up the fifteen word requirement to post . I yes, nothing to dislike.

Loved it

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This perspective was unique to me and I really appreciated it. Everything else I've read talks about perspectives from the outside, from others, while this presented possibly her thoughts and reasons behind actions far deeper and I've read anywhere else.

A new perspective

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I have always wanted to understand Mary I's perspective towards the strict religious policies of her reign, this book does an amazing job of explaining everything and framing the reader to Mary's point of view. 10/10

Amazing framing

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Too much is on her other excellent Tudor. Histories However the authors notes at the end improves my opinion.
It really is hard to sympathise with Mary despite her difficult childhood

Dissapointing from one of my favourite authors

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Kept me captivated and I have more of on understanding of this much misunderstood Queen

Great book

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Having thoroughly enjoyed the Six Queens series from Alison Weir, I pondered briefly about whether to get this latest work of fictionalised history from Weir. Weir, being a respected historian, has filled out the history of the period by pulling us into the world of the Tudors by the fictionalising of the events. This was done superbly with the aforementioned series, and Weir is able to write historical non-fiction as well as combining her knowledge of the period and people to weave a credible work of fiction around those historical facts.

In short, Weir has written a novel detailing the trials and tribulations of one of history's least discussed figures from the Tudor dynasty. There is nothing wrong with the story here. however, I found this novel difficult to finish as it just didn't really grab my attention that much. This, I hasten to add, is not a reflection on Weir's writing. She has done a sterling job of painting a picture of Mary's difficult and controversial life. The problem for me was that Mary, as an historical figure, wasn't that interesting compared to the turbulent, capricious, and betrayal-laden events of Henry VIII's life. Henry was surrounded by so many powerful and interesting figures, all competing with one another for the King's favour. Plotting and scheming were never far away from those around Henry and, of course, the six wives and their stories all added to the heady mix.

Mary, however, seems rather flat and dull by comparison. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of her life being the often bitter feuds with her younger sister, Elizabeth. And, of course, there were the burings, something history has remembered Mary for. To add a little more spice to this story, I'd liked Weir to have included the life of one, or more, of Mary's most well known victims to add an emotional thread to the list of executions Mary, or 'Bloody Mary', was so infamous for. Alas, we get very little sense of some of those she put to death for heresy. Mary's religious zealotry was perhaps her undoing. Personally, as an atheist, I am reminded of the folly and cruelty that religious zealotry has played over the centuries, and this book illustrates that.

Narration was good from Julie Maisey. However, her Spanish accent did sound off at times, coming across sometimes as a bit lispy and often with a trace of a Cornish accent. Given how much the Spanish accent was required in this novel, I think the narrator of the first of the Six Queens series, her name escapes me, would've been a better choice. Ironically, Julie Maisey's best accent was that of Anne of Cleaves, a German, who figured very little in this story.

Mary I: Queen of sorrows is a well written book. Though, for me, the central character wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention.

Hard To Finish

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A great novel on Mary which really captured her fights and pains, sadly throughout her whole life. I agree in believing she did was she thought was right, but what one person thinks is right will definitely not be the same as everyone else’s & she had good intentions but executed them poorly. I really enjoyed the epilogue too and agree with Alison’s thoughts on Mary. Hoping the next book is either Edward or Elizabeth herself. ❤️

10/10

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