Plot Summary: Catherine De'Medici finds herself an orphan at a young age, completely dependent on her uncle for everything. After unrest reaches her home town of Florence and her family finds themselves out of favor, Catherine is forced to spend the remainder of her childhood locked away in convents. With nothing but her happy memories of life before the nunnery, her feelings for a boy she knew then and the occasional friendliness she receives from other girls and a few nuns, Catherine must stay safe and try to stay sane. After her uncle becomes the pope, Catherine finds herself in favor once more and her marriage is arranged to the young King of France. Full of optomisim and hope, Catherine prepares for her new life as the queen of a country she's never seen. Catherine soon finds that marriage isn't everything she'd hoped for and there is a lot for her to learn. Despite all of her challenges, she's a Medici after all, and she'll survive - one way or another.
Critical Evaluation: Carolyn Meyer's Young Royals series offers a unique look into women of power and prestige throughout history. In this installment, Meyer turns her talents to describing the youth of one of the most notorious queens in the history of France, a queen responsible for the massacre of thousands. With the real life knowledge of what she will become in the mind of most readers, Meyer paints an interesting portrait of young woman in crisis. She has no power, no say in her future and at times she's hated just for who her family is. Meyer does a nice job of showing the role of women - even powerful, rich women like Catherine - during the time period and shows us a young woman who has suffered much, and who has much to revenge. Well written with wonderful historical details, Meyer has another strong effort under her belt with this addition to her established series.
Reader's Annotation: Catherine De'Medici has a vast fortune, a bright future, and no power. With unrest threatening at every turn, can she survive to take the place of power she's meant to?
About the Author: Carolyn Meyer was born in 1935 in Lewistown, PA and graduated from Bucknell University in 1957. After marriage and the birth of three sons, she published her first book, Miss Patch's Learn to Sew Book, which was followed by several how-to books.
Meyer has to date written more than 50 books - including many non-fiction titles and the Young Royal series of which Duchessina is a part. Now married to her second husband, a retired college professor, Myere lives in New Mexico where she continues to write.
Information retrieved from http://www.readcarolyn.com/
Genre: Historical Fiction
Curriculum Ties: History
Booktalking Ideas: Comparison of Duchessina's life to current time. Comparison of her life to less fortunate women of same time period.
Reading Level: 12+
Interest Age: 13+
Challenge Issues: N/A
Why is This Included: A good example of historical fiction.
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