"Orphaned from infancy, Catherine de' Medici endured a tumultuous childhood. Married to the French king, she was widowed by forty, only to become the power behind the French throne during a period of intense civil strife. In 1546, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Elisabeth de Valois, who would become Queen of Spain. Two years later, Catherine welcomed to her nursery the beguiling young Mary Queen of Scots, who would later become her daughter-in-law. Together, Catherine, Elisabeth, and Mary lived through the sea changes that transformed sixteenth-century Europe, a time of expanding empires, religious discord, and populist revolt, as concepts of nationhood began to emerge and ideas of sovereignty inched closer to absolutism. They would learn that to rule as a queen was to wage a constant war against the deeply entrenched misogyny of their time. Following the intertwined stories of the three women from girlhood through young adulthood, Leah Redmond Chang's Young Queens paints a picture of a world in which a woman could wield power at the highest level yet remain at the mercy of the state, her body serving as the currency of empire and dynasty, sacrificed to the will of husband, family, kingdom" -- Dust jacket flap.

Originally published in 2023 by Bloomsbury, Great Britain.

Prologue -- The orphan : Italy, 1519-1533 -- The second son : France, 1533-1536 -- Barren : France, 1536-1542 -- Motherhood : France, 1543-1553 -- The price : Scotland and France, 1537-1548 -- Empires : France, 1547-1553 -- Brides : France, 1558-1559 -- Accidents : France, 1559 -- Mary's book : France, 1548-1554 -- Journeys : France and Spain, 1559 -- Letters : France and Spain, 1559-1560 -- King's heart, Queen's Body : Spain, 1560 -- Sons and daughters : France, 1560-1561 -- Home : France, 1560 -- Don Carlos : France and Spain, 1561 -- The test : France and Spain, 1561 -- The return : France, Spain, Scotland, England, 1561 -- Queen of faith : Scotland, France, Spain, 1561-1563 -- Catholic kings : Scotland, 1562-1565 -- Family affairs : France, on the border with Spain, 1565 -- The Queen's two bodies : Scotland and Spain, 1566 -- The birth of princes : Scotland and Spain, 1566-1567 -- The turn : France and Scotland, 1567 -- The prisoner : Lochleven Castle, Scotland, 1567 -- The death of a queen : Scotland, England, France and Spain, 1568 -- Last letters : Spain, France, and England, 1568 -- A daughter's love: Spain and France, 1568 -- Epilogue.