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Product Description
Review
Praise for Jeanne Kalogridis:
The Borgia Bride:
‘Love, lust, incest and murder: this historical romance has it all’
Mail on Sunday
'From sexual passion to mortal danger, the dramatic shift of real historical events will keep the reader turning the pages'
Philippa Gregory
'Corset-busting escapism'
The Sunday Times
Product Description
A compelling tale of love, lust and murder which traces the evolution of Catherine de Medici – the great-granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent – from an unloved, timid orphan to France's most cunning monarch
A cold, ruthless murderess and occultist, or a loyal wife and mother, and the most competent monarch France ever knew?
In The Devil’s Queen, Jeanne Kalogridis examines Catherine de'Medici’s attraction to astrology and the dark arts, as well as the political, religious and personal forces that converged during her life.
Catherine de'Medici was one of France's most notorious and blood thirsty monarchs, feared by some as an occultist, seen to be consorting with the likes of Nostradamus and thought to have been responsible for the brutal St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
For many she was loved as a monarch devoted to bringing about peace during the Wars of Religion. Others saw her as an unfortunate victim of circumstances, struggling to come to terms with the death of her own husband whom she loved dearly, as well as the tragic death of her own parents at an early age.
In Kalogridis' most passionate and thought-provoking novel yet, we follow in the footsteps of France's orphan queen and her rise to power in the tumultuous climate of sixteenth century France.
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Customer Reviews
The Devil's Queen covers Catherine de Medici's rise from orphaned heir to a powerful but unpopular Florentine dynasty, to the position of the most powerful and respected woman in France, thanks to a judicious marriage and the combination of the feminine wiles and satanic arts which she's not above using to ease her path. She falls under the influence of her Rasputin-like astrologer/court magician Cosimo Ruggieri, and between them they call on some very dark powers as they conspire to ensure that Catherine and her children hold onto their positions in the hotbed of plotting and back-stabbing intrigue that is the French court of the mid-sixteenth century. At the same time Catherine is an astute politician and earns the respect (if not the love) of France's warring Protestant and Catholic factions.
It really was a case of every woman for herself when it came to securing the affection of the French King and his sons and it all makes for a very interesting and enthralling historical read which I enjoyed almost as much as The Borgia Bride (my favourite JK novel). I can also recommend her Painting Mona Lisa, and have The Burning Times still to read. I'm also very pleased to see from Amazon that she has a new (I think) book out in March, called The Scarlet Contessa.
What this tale brought to the fore was the age to which it all pertains, its lively, it has a great level of understanding for the principle character (especially when dealing with her husband's infidelity) as well as delving in the mysticism alongside witchcraft with people of interest like Nostradamus. But perhaps most importantly it brought a character to the fore that the reader can associate with and understand whilst viewing all the intrigues of the era where rumour never lost anything in the telling. All in this story is well written, the author maintains the reader's interest and apart from a few places where the pace lulls, it's a very tight tale of love, romance and of course the darker aspects that haunted the principle characters life. Great stuff.
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