Jean Plaidy - Mary, Queen of France - The Story of the Youngest Sister of Henry VIII

12 A theme of silencing runs throughout the novel. In various ways, Henry silences Mary, Louis silences Jeanne, Mary silences Anne Boleyn, etc. Where else do you see this theme at work?

13 François’s first love is the devout, mysterious Françoise. Who is she? Why does she reject him? This is the first refusal François has ever experienced in his gilded life; how does he take it? Who suggests that he simply abduct and seduce Françoise against her will?

14 Men may rule France, but there is fierce competition among the women behind the scenes as they struggle to put their chosen men on the throne. Louise and Anne of Brittany blatantly wish death upon each other’s children as they jockey for position. Is there any female solidarity to be had in this novel? Where do you see the men picking up on this female competition and using it to their advantage? Which female character do you find most sympathetic?

15 At the age of eighteen, Mary calls a meeting with Thomas Wolsey, Bishop of Lincoln; Sir Ralph Verney, the Princess’s Chamberlain; the Earl of Worcester; and the Bishops of Winchester and Durham. She asks them to plead her case to the king, and help dissolve her betrothal to the Prince of Castile. How does she get away with this meeting without facing Henry’s wrath? Do they help her? What international debacle releases her from this dreaded betrothal?

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Mary, Queen of France

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The story of the youngest sister of Henry VIII, Princess Mary Tudor, and her journey to overcome her brother’s betrayal and gain her heart’s desire.

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When she’s widowed at the hand of her brother Henry VIII, Princess Margaret Tudor fights to carve out her own destiny and to lead her descendants to peace.

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Available from THREE RIVERS PRESS wherever books are sold

Copyright © 2003 by Patricia Hamilton for the Estate of Jean Plaidy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York. Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. www.randomhouse.com

THREE RIVERS PRESS is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in Great Britain by Robert Hale, London, in 1964 and subsequently in the United States by Penguin Putnam, New York.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Plaidy, Jean, 1906–1993

Mary, Queen of France / Jean Plaidy.—1st Three Rivers Press

pbk. ed.

1. Mary, Queen, consort of Louis XII, King of France, 1496–1533— Fiction. 2. France—History—Louis XII, 1498–1515—Fiction. 3. Queens—France—Fiction. I. Title.

PR6015.I3M36 2003

823′.914—dc21

2002041620

eISBN: 978-0-307-49670-6

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