The Tower

Reviews

Richly detailed . . . Through her tale, Carr depicts the ways in which women can care for and exert power over one another. 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 The Tower is an intimate, exquisitely told story of Mary Queen of Scots and her maids during their year of imprisonment, portraying their hopes and fears, their affections and irritations with such skill that you feel you are in the room with them. A beautiful, poignant book that draws you into the world of these women so fully that it is a wrench to leave it It’s like being there! An immediate, immersive experience of sharing the year the fallen Mary Queen of Scots was held in a Scottish island castle prison with a few attendants and only her courage and charm to rescue her. Lyrical, riveting, and unforgettable An unforgettable, spellbinding debut--Flora Carr's THE TOWER offers an immersive and intimate portrait of Mary Queen of Scots and the women in her orbit, revealing their humanity beyond the stories and myths Many authors have produced fictional portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, but none has been quite like that provided by Flora Carr in her debut novel . . . Carr has taken an often overly romanticised historical figure and given her new life and originality. Bold and intimate . . . it maintains a sharp immediacy in keeping with the bristling antagonisms and power plays that take place within the castle walls.

Carr succeeds admirably in depicting the joylessness of Mary's incarceration and the various
indignities to which she is subjected . . . Carr draws us tightly into the skulduggery of the tower, building a gripping and claustrophobic read.

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 An imaginative, dark gem of a novel, about women, power and fear, still, intelligent and beautifully written, yet as tense as a thriller Expand reviews