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The Tower

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The Tower

By: Flora Carr
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

They are imprisoned, but not contained.

Three women cross a loch. It is 1567, one of them is pregnant, two of them fretful. The boat takes them to Lochleven castle in the middle of the water. Awaiting them are courtiers braying for blood, hellbent on keeping one of them under lock and key: Mary Queen of Scots.

In the tower, Mary's maids Frenchwoman, Cuckoo and watchful Scot, Jane are her only allies, and the chamber their entire world. A new reality sets in where they are at the mercy of not only their keepers, but of raging Scotland itself.

In the outside world, Mary's kin, Queen Elizabeth claims she can do little but write. Downstairs, the shrewd jailor-courtier Margaret Erskine places her daughter-in-law Agnes in the chamber as her pair of eyes. Hope seems futile until the bewitching Lady Seton arrives. Seton's power shifts everything in the tower and soon a plan is hatched.

But which of them will risk it all to save their mistress? Which woman loves her queen best? The Tower is a triumphant story of desire, grit, God-given power and wiles from a striking new voice in historical fiction.

©2024 Flora Carr (P)2024 Penguin Audio Fiction Literary Fiction Medieval Royalty Scotland
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Critic reviews

The Tower is such a vivid, visceral read, you feel you're locked in the tower alongside the characters, acting out a royal family drama. I am moved and impressed (Tracy Chevalier)

An absorbing read and an utterly believable female perspective on history. Its cocktail of tension and tenderness perfectly captures the claustrophobic world of the four women in the tower; a historical narrative with contemporary relevance (Sally Hinchcliffe)

An imaginative, dark gem of a novel, about women, power and fear, still, intelligent and beautifully written, yet as tense as a thriller (Neil Blackmore)

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Profile Image for Kathryn E. Goldin

Arresting, Captivating Account of Mary Queen of Scots and her Companions in Confinement

Kept in a Tower on an Island on a Loch, Mary Queen of Scots and her attendant women spend a claustrophobic and at times miserable existence with little more than their imaginations, conversation and a ginger cat for company. This women centred account of women at the heart of Scottish history shatters any romantic notion of Scotland's Queen in Waiting as she faces an indeterminate time under the watchful eyes of Margaret Erskine châtelaine of Lochleven Castle and her pregnant daughter-in-law Agnes. Weaving in the future and past of the Monarch and the women surrounding her, a story of fortitude and resistance emerges and stunning and complex portraits of these women and their fractured lives and relationships come to the fore. Told through the seasons the story focuses on The Queen, and her companions Marie Courcelles, Mary Seton and Jane Kennedy. The relationships between these women from their trust, humour, passions and jealousy all amplified by the claustrophobia of the Tower and the intensity of the risk. Power is something they can only claim in their devotion and care for one another, channelled through their duty to their Queen, but at what price?

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A historic debut

The characterization is fantastic with a strong point of view by the author. Looking forward to more!

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