He marries his Catholic sister Marguerite (the Queen Margot of the title) to Henry of Navarre, the Protestant King of Navarre. Charles has 2 brothers vying to be next on the throne.
is historical fiction written by a mid-19th century French author about the 1500s French King Charles IX and the fight between Catholics and Huguenots. While the story never became as stirring emotionally as The Count of Monte Cristo, and at times seemed a little repetitive, I nevertheless enjoyed this entertaining book. Queen Margot is a long book and I felt it was starting to drag a bit by the time I finished it. A point in his flavor is that he does give his women intelligence, both Margot and her mother, Catherine had a good read on the politics of the day and knew how to manipulate situations in their favour. A weakness is his characters, to me they are fairly one-dimensional and he does seem to like his women to be rather flirtatious and somewhat fickle. Dumas excels in action scenes, swordplay comes alive under with his directions and his descriptions are lively and realistic. However, I never felt that Margot was the main character of this story, I think the author felt more comfortable writing about men, although I suspect he got great enjoyment writing about Catherine and her many poison plots. Political ambition is also a driving force in their marriage. This massacre is the event that draws Margot and Henry of Navarre together in a strong political alliance even though they both look to others for romance.
The Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre that occurs in the opening chapters of the book actually happened and is believed to have been instigated by Catherine de Medici, the mother of both the King of France and of Margot, the bride of just a few days to the Protestant King of Navarre. Catholics versus Protestants was an ongoing issue, particularly in France for centuries. His plot was full of schemes, quarrels, revenge and the politics of the day. Dumas doesn’t let actual history get in the way of his story-telling, for him the story always comes first so characters motives and actions are not always in line with the actual facts. Queen Margot, while not as engrossing or as sweeping as The Count of Monte Crisco was still a highly readable and enjoyable historical novel.
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