Summary of Nancy Goldstone's The Rival Queens

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Marguerite de Valois was the youngest daughter of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici. She was born in 1553. She had a light heart, a quick intelligence, and a cheerful temperament. She was one of her father’s favorites. #2 Catherine de’ Medici, the woman who would dominate the French government for more than a quarter century, began her residence in the kingdom as an insecure foreigner and social pariah. She was eleven years old when she was thrown back on her own resources and began to accumulate allies. #3 Catherine’s marriage to Henri, second son of the overweening French king François I, was a significant achievement for a girl of her lineage. Her parents had only recently become wealthy and powerful, but they were still considered parvenus by most of the crowned heads of Europe. #4 Catherine’s youth was tumultuous, but she turned out to be the less damaged partner in her marriage. She was the more nurturing child than her new young husband, Henri, who had been born at his father’s favorite hunting lodge at Amboise in France in 1519.