Just when you think the Renaissance era has been comprehensively strip mined by all writers, podcasters, TV series producers and popular historians, a new angle comes up. In Young Queens Leah Chang manages to squeeze some fresh juice out of the royal female pomegranate.
The Renaissance is well documented – at least in Western Europe – thanks to the arrival of printing. It was a different world – unimaginably brutal and uncomfortable by our standards – and you have a one in three chance of dying before you are five – but the lineaments of the modern world are becoming apparent: nationality and science rub shoulders with religion and feudalism.
Young Queens delivers a detailed and workmanlike account of the lives of its protagonists but, as biography it offers few insights into character and as history, the lack of analysis means it can read as one event after another.
Chang is a professor of French literature and while she has clearly read the sources, her mass of material are primarily personal. She takes her subjects at their word and does not appear to appreciate the murderous intensity of the religious politics of the age. The St Bartholomew’s Day massacre for example gets about two pages and a very sketchy explanation – and this reflects the personal focus of Chang’s treatment of her subjects’ lives.
That said, Chang’s attempt to view her period through from the perspective of three high-status women is a welcome change from another book about Henry, Francis and Charles.
Reviewed by Grant Hansen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leah Redmond Chang’s writing focuses on women and power. She was trained as a literature scholar, and her books draw on her extensive research in the archives and in rare book libraries. Before turning to writing full time, Leah was a tenured professor of French Literature and Culture at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She has also been an Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London.
Leah’s book, Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power has been named among the ‘Best Books of 2023’ by The New Yorker and ‘Best Biographies of 2023’ by BookRiot. Young Queens was longlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction and was a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography).
Leah lives with her husband and three children in Washington, DC, and spends as much time as possible in London and Paris, her favourite cities
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