Queen's Play - Dorothy Dunnett

 

Queen's Play is the second book in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles series. This time, Francis Crawford of Lymond, travels to France to protect the young Mary Queen of Scots, who is betrothed to Francis, Dauphin of France.

Francis goes to France at the Dowager Queen's request, and he goes disguised as Thady Boy Ballagh, a boisterous Irishman employed by Phelim O'LiamRoe, Prince of Barrow of Ireland, as his ollave, which is a sort of companion poet and scholar. As Thady Boy, Francis can be as outrageous as his talents allow--in true Dunnett form, Thady Boy engineers escapade after escapade as he strives to thwart the would-be assassins of Queen Mary while amusing and infuriating member of the French court, including King Henri and his Queen, Catherine de Medici.  

My favorite scene is where he initiates and participates in a literal steeplechase, in which pairs of contestants run a course throughout the town entirely from roof to roof, or steeple to steeple, without ever letting their feet touch the ground. The book is chock full of Francis's exploits, including herding elephants, dueling, wrestling, singing and playing the lute, fighting off a cheetah during a hunt, and the list goes on. Never a dull moment with Francis.

Against this frenetic backdrop are the politics and machinations as the Scots, the Irish, the English, and the French all vie for power and prestige in turbulent 16th century Europe. Francis has to uncover who is loyal to Queen Mary and who has sold their soul in order to wear the crown. Despite Francis's antics, his underlying mission is cold sober, to protect and preserve his Queen, who is a red-haired regal child who loves Francis's riddles and wit. In so many ways, they are portrayed as birds of a feather.

Mary, Queen of Scots as a child

I love learning about the history of Scotland at this time period through these books. They are layered, complex, and always interesting. I started reading Antonia Fraser's bio of Mary Queen of Scots, since it appears that the Lymond Chronicles will parallel her life, with Francis as her faithful guardian. I'm also inspired to find a bio of Catherine di Medici.

Definitely a 5-star novel that qualifies for the Big Book Summer Challenge.

I'm going to take a mini-break from Francis and do some seasonal reading, but I am looking forward to the next book in the series, The Disorderly Knights, which will take Francis to Malta!