Eternal Promise: The Soul of Mary Stuart

This is my favorite genre of reading, I felt this was wonderfully told from Mary’s young days in France all the way through her life she was not a foolish queen as many thought. She did rule with her heart and ultimately died because of that. I felt I read this book rather quickly because I was eager to learn what the next page was going to tell me. I would gladly read another book from Holly-Eloise Walters

Thank you to NetGalley, Holly-Eloise Walters and Churchill Publishing for an e-ARC of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you think this is just another accounting of the life of Mary Queen of Scots, I am here to tell you that you are wrong. The author writes a very intimate reveal of how Mary perceived her great love of Francis I as well as her other two husbands. Holly also explores how Mary felt about herself and exposes Mary questioning herself and her decisions many times.

I read this book in one day as I could not put it down and felt very connected to Mary. As my maternal grandmother was born and raised in Scotland, I heard many stories of her beloved Queen but none touched me as this book did.

I always felt that Francis was always Mary's one true love and this story enforces that. I believe that when you finish this book you will not see Mary as a foolish woman who was ruled by her heart instead of her head, but one who made the best out of all the difficulties her life was riddled with.

Solid 4.5 stars. I deducted a half star because there are some editing and spelling issues.

As Queen of Scots, Mary Stuart’s motto had been “In my end is my beginning.” True, the end of her life marked the beginning of her legend, but Holly-Eloise Walters is eager to remind people that Mary’s not just a name in a history book, but a real person with real thoughts and feelings. For that reason, she’s written, “Eternal Promise: the soul of Mary Stuart.”

Rich in emotion and beautifully told in first person, Holly’s book is a fascinating story of Mary Stuart, the wife of Francis II of France. She’s captured the queen’s happy days in France as a 9-year-old betrothed to 8-year-old Francis, her father in law’s death, her husband’s coronation, ear infection and death, her second marriage to Henry, Lord Darnley, the birth of her son, James I, her third marriage to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, right up to her last breath. Well-researched, Holly’s book brings life into the controversial historical figure and gives Mary an opportunity to tell things from her perspective.

I think my favourite passage was her account of walking down the aisle in Notre Dame Cathedral on her wedding day and seeing Francis, her husband to be. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Holly has captured the love between them in masterfully worded prose. You’ll want to go back and reread it again.

Perhaps you’ll be like me as you turn the last page and realize that Mary Stuart was no foolish queen, nor femme fatale, who ruled by her heart and not her head. She was, rather, a rare individual, unprepared for the role she undertook and heartbroken at losing the love of her life, yet, she stood tall, squared her shoulders and carried on. Holly does a fantastic job of reminding us that though Mary’s life was marked by tragedy, it’s her courage that remains remarkable 434 years after her untimely demise.

Thank you to Holly-Eloise Walters, Churchill Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Published February 28, 2021.