The Tower
A fiery feminist retelling of Mary, Queen of Scots’ darkest hour
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- ¥1,200
発行者による作品情報
'Richly detailed' THE NEW YORKER
'Carr has taken an often overly romanticised historical figure and given her new life and originality.' THE TIMES
'A vivid, visceral read' TRACY CHEVALIER
'Bold and intimate' TLS
***
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Carr's lush debut chronicles the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), following a coup by rebel lords. Recently married to her third husband and several months pregnant after he raped her, Mary is rowed from Edinburgh to Lockleven in 1567 to be held in a castle belonging to her father's mistress. At her side are two chambermaids: Jane, a native of Scotland, and Cuckoo, who, like Mary, is originally from France. The two women are devoted to their queen and attempt to lighten her spirits through the first difficult months of her imprisonment, including her miscarriage, forced abdication, and severe illness. Tension mounts with the arrival of Lady Seton, Mary's closest friend, as the three women vie for the queen's devotion. Further drama ensues after Cuckoo has sex with a lute player and the women smuggle him out of their chamber by dressing him in women's clothes, an act of subterfuge that inspires Mary's climactic escape. Adding to the gripping plot is Carr's successful portrayal of the women's shared determination—driven by "memories as though they are prayers"—to recapture the kingdom. It amounts to a rousing and lyrical epic.
