Queen Of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. A biography "as enthralling as a detective story," of the woman who reigned over sixteenth-century Scotland (New York Times Book Review).

In Mary Queen of Scots, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history’s most famous women, depicting her world and her place in the sweep of history with stunning immediacy. Bringing together all surviving documents and uncovering a trove of new sources for the first time, Guy dispels the popular image of Mary Stuart as a romantic leading lady—achieving her ends through feminine wiles—and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I.

Through Guy’s pioneering research and superbly readable prose, we come to see Mary as a skillful diplomat, maneuvering ingeniously among a dizzying array of factions that sought to control or dethrone her. It is an enthralling, myth-shattering look at a complex woman and ruler and her time.

“The definitive biography . . . gripping . . . a pure pleasure to read.”—Washington Post Book World |

"Spirited and satisfying....Guy's account has all the twists and turns of a good thriller--and plenty of horror, too." Kirkus Reviews

"As enthralling as a detective story..." --Gerard Kilroy The New York Times Book Review

"Recent royal shenanigans look tame compared with what John Guy unearths in QUEEN OF SCOTS." --Claire Lui Entertainment Weekly

"Queen of Scots is a triumph of biography, artistry, and historical detective work. John Guy has produced a masterpiece, full of fire and tragedy." --Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana

"Rarely have first-class scholarship and first-class storytelling been so effectively combined." --John Adamson, Daily Telegraph

"[An] absorbing biography . . . meticulously researched . . . scholarly and intriguing." --Peter Ackroyd The Times of London

"A definitive biography. . . . Reads as thrillingly as a detective story, and is rich in detail and authoritative in its analysis." --Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times

"I couldn't put this book down....Never before has [Mary's story] been told with such detail, accuracy, insight and drama." --Gerard DeGroot, Scotland on Sunday