Catherine de Medici: A Biography

Review Leonie Frieda does this remarkable woman full justice. Refusing to play judge, she reveals her to us through the best of means, which is narrative. The skill with which Frieda finds her way through the maze of this confusing period is exemplary. You read on eagerly. An enthralling book -- Allan Massie ― Literary Review This masterful and compelling biography delivers a beautifully written portrait of a ruthless, subtle and fearless woman fighting for survival and power in a world of gangsterish brutality, routine assassination and religious mania. I quickly found I could not stop reading. This is narrative history at its best, both scholarly and as captivating as a thriller. Leonie Frieda has brought a largely forgotten heroine-villainess and a whole sumptuously vicious era back to life again. She is equally at home in the royal court as she is in the blood-reeking gutters of Paris: this is The Godfather meets Elizabeth -- Simon Sebag Montefiore ― Mail on Sunday A stunning biography, which brings to life a heroic woman and the tumultuous, cruel and gaudy times in which she lived -- Paul Johnson As Leonie Frieda shows in this absorbing biography, Catherine was a well-intentioned woman who resorted to extreme measures only under pressure. With its engaging style and deft handling of complex events, this accomplished account of Catherine's career is an engrossing tale, compellingly narrated -- Anne Somerset ― The Spectator Gorgeous detail and remarkable anecdotes....There is no mistaking the abiding pleasure of this smart and stylish book -- Carol Herman ― Washington Times As Leonie Frieda relates in this well-researched and immensely readable first biography, from her turbulent home in Florence Catherine found herself presiding over perhaps the nastiest period in all French history. Frieda is much to be praised for painting a wonderfully rich canvas -- Sir Alistair Horne ― The Times Leonie Frieda has produced an absorbing, entertaining study of a time when the luxury and depravity of princes went hand-in-hand with power-plotting, assassination and bloody vengeance -- Peter Lewis ― Daily Mail Frieda's confidence in her mission permeates the book, raising what is in any case a fascinating narrative to the level of cogent and powerful argument . . . This intelligent and well-researched biography is a worthy testament to Catherine's formidable strength. Catherine de Medici reveals Frieda, a first-time biographer, to be a writer of tremendous skill and talent -- Dr Amanda Foreman ― Observer Leonie Frieda has handled the history of this complex period with skill. Without skimping on the drama and debauchery of the court of the Valois, she has defended, but not whitewashed, Catherine and produced a fascinating picture of a remarkable woman -- Sarah Bradford ― Evening Standard Frieda's enjoyable and skilfully written biography ... conveys, vividly at times, the outsize style of Renaissance rule: the Loire châteaux, the feasts and balls and masques, the exotic costumes, the elaborate needlework, the pioneering attempts at ballet and opera, the bizarre collection of stuffed objects that ranged from stuffed crocodiles to priceless manuscripts. Catherine's supreme command of the political display is adroitly brought out -- Prof. Blair Worden ― Sunday Telegraph This is a masterly biography and a fascinating one -- John Jolliffe ― Independent In Frieda's scholarly tome, Catherine de Medici is painted not in the dark hues of her critics but using a more colourful palate. Through a prodigious amount of research, that was assisted by the author's versatility in five European languages, all the colour and splendour of Catherine's court is recreated -- Stephen McGinty ― Scotsman In this splendid, detailed and gripping biography, Frieda does Catherine ample justice -- Munro Price ― BBC History Magazine Leonie Frieda has produced a formidable book. Meticulously researched and extremely well-written, this surely will be the defin