Mary, Bloody Mary-Carolyn Meyer

[Owl Johnson]

Carolyn Meyer is one of my favorite authors of historical fiction for young adults (which I define as ages 11-19). I find that her characters (for the most part) are very realistic and she's able to take situations that these young women find themselves in and write them in a way that people can relate to. True, sometimes the characters are more passive than active...but these women were products of their time so that's something to keep in mind.

So let's get started with the first book in her Young Royals Series: Mary, Bloody Mary

XXXXXXXXX (Brief Synopsis)

This story follows the turbulent childhood and adolescence of Mary Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VIII of England and known throughout history as Bloody Mary due to her persecution of Protestants during her five year reign as Queen of England. She watches as her beloved mother, Catherine of Aragorn is cast off to the side and the bewitching Anne Boleyn takes her mother's place and give birth to Elizabeth. Everything Mary has known is torn apart and all she could do is watch...

XXXXXXXX What I liked about this book:

As I mentioned earlier, Carolyn Meyer is very good at writing situations in a way people can understand and relate to. In this case, Ms. Meyer captured the pain and feeling of hopelessness that happens when a family is torn apart through a bitter divorce. I reread this book around the time my parents were going through a very nasty divorce and I was thinking all the while "I know what this is like." Because truth be told, you do feel helpless and hopeless as Mary does when she's watching her family fall apart. There's not much you can do while your parents are at war but watch and pray that everything will turn out ok.

Mary is an incredibly sympathetic character and I constantly found myself wanting to comfort her. She does have a temper and grows more and more embittered as time passes and her father tears her life apart. However, she does have very warm relationships with Countess Salisbury (her governess), Lady Susan (a fictional lady-in-waiting) and even her baby half-sister Elizabeth. Mary also has a strong sense of loyalty and love to her parents, even her father who is responsible for tearing her life to pieces. She wishes for the days when her father calls her "my pearl of the world" but still gets frustrated at him. I can completely understand why this character became as embittered and angry as she did.

Granted, Mary is a bit of a passive character, which is explainable as she's a product of her time. Her whole life is dictated by her father. True, she rails against her father's choice of husband for her at the beginning but it's made pretty clear that her life isn't in her control. So that's something to keep in mind.

Also, Ms. Meyer clearly did her research with lush details about life during the Tudor era and the voice the story is written in is something I would expect somebody from that time frame to sound yet was pretty easy to read enough that I didn't find myself rushing for my dictionary if that makes any sense. The history was also explained in a way that didn't feel like a class lecture.

XXXXXXXX What I didn't like:

My biggest complaint is actually the characterization of Anne Boleyn. She's portrayed as the stereotypical evil stepmother. Now I understand that this is Mary's story told from her point of view so it would be understandably skewered and Anne is a very minor character anyway. However, I wasn't really getting much of a motivation from Anne Boleyn as to her actions. Mary's father did (he wanted a male heir to secure the Tudor line and honestly believed that he had broken God's law when he married Mary's mother as she was his brother's widow). Anne just seemed cruel to Mary for the sheer sake of it. I know Ms. Meyer wrote another book in the Young Royal series following Anne (and I'll review that when I have the opportunity) but I'm focusing on Anne in this story.

I probably would've preferred if we saw more of Anne as a fleshed out character instead of just a wicked stepmother and there was a moment where she prayed for Mary's forgiveness. But this is something we hear about from another character. There was no letter to Mary saying "I made a mess of things and I'm sorry that I hurt you." I know there wasn't but it would've shone more light onto her character and shown that not everyone responsible for a divorce was pure good or evil.

XXXXXXXXX Overall rating:
Despite the problems I had with Anne Boleyn's character, I do find this book incredibly enjoyable. The situation is something anybody can understand, Mary a likable and sympathetic protagonist and the style and historical research top notch.

So I'll give it my highest rating: Purse (as in I'll take it when I go traveling).

XXXXXXXXX

So have you read this book and if so, what did you think of it?

[BookFever]

I am definitely putting this on my To Read list. I just recently binge watched the Tudors series and Mary was one of the characters that intrigued me the most. From what I gathered from the show (take it with a grain of salt since it was just a tv show), Anne Boleyn seemed to treat Mary coldly because, in reality, she was King Henry's only heir at the time and thus was a threat to Anne's power. Before King Henry married Anne, "divorce" was a foreign concept in England and Henry went to great lengths to achieve it. Thus, when Anne became queen, she was not respected as Catherine of Aragon was. Anne feared that people would love Mary more than herself. Anne urged King Henry to declare Mary a bastard.

Great to know that this book is out there! Have you read any of Philippa Gregory's books? If so, how do you think their writing styles compare?

[Owl Johnson]

I like the Tudors too (my favorite characters though were Thomas More and Catherine of Aragon, although everyone did a terrific job). I know that's why she was somewhat mean however, to readers who don't know the history (as I didn't) when they first read it, it wouldn't really make sense. You're right, divorce was unheard of during the time this takes place but today, it's the opposite. Besides, even if Anne didn't persuade Henry to make Mary a bastard, it still would've happened because of how divorces back then worked. Henry was arguing that his marriage to Catherine never existed because she was married to his brother before they got married.

I've read The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory (about the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur) and I liked it. However, Meyer is writing for younger audiences (she doesn't sugarcoat what happens and talks about issues like beheading, affairs bastards and the intrigues of Tudor court life) but I find that Gregory is far more mature (which makes sense because she's writing for older audiences). I think Meyer is a good jumping off point if you want to ready Gregory.

[cmeils]

Mary, Bloody Mary, the story of Mary Tudor's teenager years, was not my immediate choice of a novel for the historical fiction unit in my seventh grade English class. The book appeared on every middle-grades historical fiction list that I found and it matched up with the time period I was looking for, so I picked up a copy and decided to give it a shot.

Mary, Bloody Mary ended up surprising me by being an excellent choice. The book begins with a flash forward to the execution of Anne Boleyn, introducing Mary as an angry, betrayed young woman who asks the reader to hear her story before judging her temper. Chapter One begins with Mary's anger again, although this time it is a ten year old Mary angry over her betrothal to the King of France, known for his repulsive appearance and "foul breath".

The book is largely accurate about Mary's life, showing Mary as she suffers under her fathers transformation into an angry, paranoid ruler. Although a bit dull at times, Mary, Bloody Mary is an interesting look into the life of royalty at a historically significant time.

The title of the book and the excitement of the prologue and first chapter pulls young readers into the story of Mary's life. Male readers might be turned off the cover, which gives the book the appearance of a romance novel, but the book is far from romantic. Another benefit of reading Mary, Bloody Mary is that there is a large number of available resources on Mary's life and Tudor England for readers interested in learning more.

Overall, Mary, Bloody Mary is an exciting and largely accurate story good for 5th-8th grade. There are times when the story lacks excitement, but overall I would rate the book 3 out of 4 stars.

Note: The word "bastard" appears throughout the book several times, used in the traditional sense. It may be important to you to explain to your reader/student why the word is used