Queen's Own Fool (Stuart Quartet, 3)

Absolutely riveting! The authors have a true sense of style and are wonderfully witty. They also did a great job of sticking to history and blending the varying views of Mary, Queen of Scots. I highly recommend!

Happy with my purchase. Shipped in reasonable time. Good condition. I read this book when I was a teenager and wanted to get it but didn't want to pay a hefty price.

“Queen’s Own Fool” is Nicola, who is given the nickname ‘La Jardiniere’. La Jardinaiere was real, although we know almost nothing about her. Yolan and Harris have used her as a lens to view the life of Mary Stuart, the Queen of France and of Scotland.Mary, at the time Queen of France, buys orphaned Nicola from her uncle’s entertainment troop when she is a girl. Nicola is witty and, more important, honest. Mary values honesty above all- she hears so little of it at court- and relies on Nicola to remind her that she, despite being Queen, is mortal like her subjects. The novel takes us through the death of the young King of France and Mary’s decision to live in Scotland, so she can rule rather than being an extraneous female for her uncles to marry off to further their political aims. This turns out to be a bad decision; Scotland is full of internal strife between Catholics (which Mary is one of) and the Protestant rebels. She walks into this situation fairly blindly and makes her situation worse by marrying pretty boy Lord Darnley. No one likes Darnley; he’s ambitious politically but mannerless, forces himself on serving women, cares nothing for the people of Scotland, and rather reminds me of Donald Trump. Mary is helpless as rebels take over the country.I’ve never much cared for Mary Stuart; she always struck me as fairly witless and ruled by her heart rather than attempting good governance - not good traits in a queen. Seeing her through Nicola’s eyes, though, I could see other sides to Mary; she was kind and smart (in book learning, at least). She was a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time; a pawn of first her uncles, then the rebels, then prisoner of her cousin Elizabeth I of England. Other than her years at the court of France, she led a pretty sad life. Nicola’s version of Mary made me sympathetic to her as a woman who cared deeply for her friends and her people.Nicola herself is witty, brave, and fast thinking. She acts as Mary’s eyes and ears when Mary is held prisoner and helps her out of several scrapes. Nicola is almost too good to be true, but I enjoyed her and think she makes a great heroine for the YA crowd for which this book was written. This was a fast, couldn’t put it down read for me. While I knew there could be no happy ending for Queen Mary, I couldn’t help but be rooting for her and being tense over a lot of the scenes, hoping for the best. Great book.

I first read this book while in elementary school and I fell in love with it. I had been looking for it in book stores but could never find it. I'm so glad I finally did here on Amazon. Such a good book!!

My sister left my copy on the plane home from Scotland. I enjoyed the book so much, I had to buy another copy to read again. Jane Yolen is one of my favorite authors.

I've been on a Tudor reading binge lately, and this teen novel about Mary Queen of Scots is part of it. It is the story of the tumultuous reign and disastrous marriages of the young Queen, as told by her female jester, La Jardiniere--born Nicola Ambruzzi, orphan and traveling player.Nicola is given her position as fool just before Mary's husband, the king of France, dies. Having no reason to stay in France, Mary goes back to her native Scotland and sets herself up as queen. Nicola goes with her, serving as a courtier, and also as a friend, during the years between Mary's return to Scotland and her exile in England.The book starts slowly, and is almost but not quite boring until the murder of David Riccio, a close friend of Mary and Nicola. Then it picks up, starting with a touching scene of Nicola visiting David's grave. After this beautiful interlude, the real action begins. Nicola must keep Darnley, Mary's frat-boy husband, from usurping the throne, and later has to help Mary escape from imprisonment on a remote island. The second half of the book is much more interesting than the first, but I suppose it would have made no sense without the background of the first half. *shrug*Overall, a decent novel about Queen Mary for middle-schoolers or thereabouts. It might even encourage you to read more about the Tudor/Stuart period.

While not extroadinary, this book definitely stands out as a good, solid story for anyone interested in this time period. It might help if you've studied it a bit as well; while I consider myself a fairly informed history buff, this particular point in history was not one I'd studied in the past, so some of it went over my head a bit. Still, I enjoyed the main and supporting characters immensely, and the plot was full of exactly the sort of court intrigue I love. Nicola, an orphan living with a group of street performers headed by her often abusive uncle, never expected to be anything but what she is. Thus she is quite surprised when the young queen Mary is so charmed by her antics that she immediately frees her from her uncle, in exchange for her becoming her own personal fool. Though it tends to move a bit slowly at times, in the end the reward is worth it. Like I said, this book is truly good, recommendable to anyone twelve on up.

This book was so good! This story follows an orphan called nicola who is living with her cruel uncle who owns a troupe which she is forced to perform in. then they are commanded to follow a passer by who takes them to perform for queen mary of france and her husband (later to become mary queen of scots). But Nicola makes a fool out of herself, and is punished by her uncle. but Queen Mary found her amusing, and buys her off her uncle, so she can be Mary's fool.This story is sooooo good! I would recommed it highly!

Nice

この小説を購入し始めて読んだのはかなり前　最近エリザベス・ゴールデンエイジの映画等にスコットランド女王メリースチュアートが登場してエリザベスに陰謀を企てたりまた秋にはphilippa gregory女史のthe other queen が出版予定でこれまた楽しみなんでもう一度この本を引っ張り出して読んでるんだけど波乱の人生を送った（救いを求めて逃げ込んだインクランドでエリザベスによって断頭台に送られる〉メリー女王の華やかなフランス王妃から故郷のスコットランドに帰ってからの坂道を転がるような悲劇を描いている　そのいきさつは本編に女王の道化師の賢い少女ニコラを登場させて物語らせている彼女と女王との運命の出会いからスコットランドとイングランドの国境での少女ニコラとの最後の別れ　ニコラのとめるのも聞かず女王はイングランドへの運命を選ぶんだけど　　離島ロッホレブンの湖上の城から幽閉された女王を救い出すシーンは手に汗握る映画のよう　おとぎばなしでなく歴史上の事実です