Margaret George Quote

Mary was like a caged tiger in the first days of her captivity. Keen, alert, and watchful, she listened tensely each dawn for the key that unlocked her door. After breakfast she watched the road for messengers, pacing back and forth like a confined feline.But no messengers ever came. Elizabeth had abandoned her. Or forgotten her. And the days passed.Little by little, the Queen of Scots grew accustomed to her captivity. She no longer heard the key in the lock, or the footsteps outside her door. More often than not it was the maid's cheerful voice that woke her, along with the hand on Mary's shoulder and the delicious smells wafting from the breakfast tray.

Margaret George

Mary was like a caged tiger in the first days of her captivity. Keen, alert, and watchful, she listened tensely each dawn for the key that unlocked her door. After breakfast she watched the road for messengers, pacing back and forth like a confined feline.But no messengers ever came. Elizabeth had abandoned her. Or forgotten her. And the days passed.Little by little, the Queen of Scots grew accustomed to her captivity. She no longer heard the key in the lock, or the footsteps outside her door. More often than not it was the maid's cheerful voice that woke her, along with the hand on Mary's shoulder and the delicious smells wafting from the breakfast tray.

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About Margaret George

Margaret George (born 1943) is an American historical novelist specializing in epic fictional biographies. She is known for her meticulous research and the large scale of her books. She is the author of the bestselling novels The Autobiography of Henry VIII (1986), Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles (1992), The Memoirs of Cleopatra (1997), Mary, Called Magdalene (2002), Helen of Troy (2006), Elizabeth I (2011), The Confessions of Young Nero (2017), and The Splendor Before the Dark (2018).
Several of these novels were New York Times bestsellers and the Cleopatra novel was made into an Emmy-nominated ABC-TV miniseries in 1999. Altogether the novels have been published in 21 languages. She is ranked at the forefront of historical novelists writing today.
Because of the detailed and accurate research behind her books, she has been a featured interviewee on A & E Biography (Henry VIII: Scandals of a King, 1996, and Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen, 1996) and a special on Alexandria (Cleopatra's World: Alexandria Revealed, 1999). She has also spoken at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Hampton Court the Tower of London, and twice at the Library of Congress's National Book Festival (2011, 2019).
In 2021, George authored an immersive audiovisual step inside a story tour for the Circus Maximus in Rome entitled The Charioteer on the BARDEUM mobile app.