Queen’s Own Fool

A Novel of Mary Queen of Scots
by Jane Yolen & Robert J. Harris

One wet day Nicola Ambruzzi is performing in the streets with Troupe Brufort in Rheims, France, when a royal gentleman stops and asks them to come and put on their show for the kind and queen at the palace. Her oily Uncle Armand can hardly believe his luck and tells Nicola to “keep her tongue to herself,” though it is her sharp tongue that rewards him in the end. The court has seen most of the tricks the troupe performs and is not impressed. When Nicola makes a mistake and turns what could have been a disaster into an entertaining sideshow the court applauds and admires her quick wit. Queen Mary is offers to buy Nicola’s freedom and take her into her service. So, Nicola becomes the queen’s own fool, is given new clothes and has plentiful food to eat. Though not everyone is her friend, she has the ear of a queen, who could ask for more? Then plots for power and the throne increase and Nicola is caught in the middle of the court games of who will rule and who will die.

Yolen and Harris’ richly detailed writing sweeps readers into the characters’ lives, the plots of the court, and medieval life from the very beginning. The seamless blend of believable characters and their emotions with a very close telling of the story of the “queen without a country” makes this an unforgettable book. I have read this novel several times, and it still keeps its magic for me. Read the companion novels—also about troubled historic Scotland—Girl in a Cage, Prince Across the Water, and The Rogues.