Typically non-fiction takes me months to read. I tend to get so bogged down in the details that I find myself able to only read a chapter at a time. This was not the case with Guy's biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. 

I have yet to find a biographical work that doesn't show any bias. Suggestions welcome if you know of any. This book wasn't any different. Guy obvious has a fangirl thing going on with Mary. He things she's smart, beautiful, and cunning. Personally I think one of those two things may be true. To quote some of my favorite preschool teachers, Mary makes a lot of bad choices. 

While Guy makes his adoration of Mary no secret, he also makes it perfectly clear that he is not a fan of one William Cecil (later Lord Burghley). Guy seems to believe Cecil is the root of all Mary's problems. Cecil wasn't leading Mary's fan club or even getting the newsletters but let's not get nuts. Mary was a queen in her own right. If Mary was as smart and capable as Guy wants his readers to believe, shouldn't she have been able to outsmart Cecil and survive? 

I have Guy's biography of Elizabeth I on my shelf. While I wasn't planning on reading it any time soon, I may have to move it up the list. I'm interested to see what kind of picture Guy paints of the people living on the other side of Mary's fence. I would think his characterization of Cecil would remain consistent. Right?

Read 1/1/2020- 1/5/2020