Historical novel set in 1560s LOCHLEVEN (Scotland)

2nd January 2024

The Tower by Flora Carr, historical novel set in 1560s Lochleven, Scotland (Perth and Kinross).

The Tower, by Flora Carr, is an exceptionally entertaining historical novel. The author writes an enthralling account of the imprisonment of the young Mary, Queen of Scots, in Lochleven Castle. As it’s a historical novel, Carr has to stick to the known facts and there’s no scope to change the outcome. There’s a very small group of characters. But the biggest constraint is that the four main characters – the queen and her companions – spend all their time in the tower and its immediate vicinity on a tiny island in the middle of Loch Leven in Scotland. This is a huge challenge, but it successfully addressed in this remarkable book.

Carr writes brilliantly about the issues that the women face. They are all fear for their lives. The queen has been taken prisoner and is at the mercy of her captors, the Scottish nobles who oppose her reign. She hopes for rescue and to be restored to her throne and to be reunited with her infant son. The truth is that she is completely without power and has to rely on her captors for everything. Her chambermaids have to tread carefully too; not to upset the queen or their captors. They have little in common with each other, but they share a common purpose: to look after the queen as they always have, because their happiness depends on hers. Their captors deprive the women of even the most basic necessities to humiliate them and break their spirits. Mary is stripped of anything that denotes her previous status as queen, even her so-called jewelled ladies – the noble ladies in waiting who attended her at court. Instead, she is allotted two lowly chambermaids, Jane and ‘Cuckoo’.

There’s a constant danger of betrayal and death for all: Mary because she’s important, and the others because they aren’t. There are spies in their midst who report back what they’ve seen and heard, so they need to decide who to trust. The women are drawn together by this common fear. The attendants are still in awe of Mary, her stately bearing and charisma, even though she’s no longer queen. Their devotion and love for her during her terrible suffering is deeply touching.

In an attempt to stave off boredom and depression, the women fill their days with memories of finer times, beautiful places, colour and happiness and they often live in their imagination. The women find ways to express themselves and learn each other’s characters within the constraints of their imprisonment. Men are a distraction from tedium, but they also pose a risk. Any involvement with men or indiscretion could prove disastrous. In general, men are portrayed as self-seeking and cruel but so are some of the women. There are moments of sexual tension and romantic encounters to set the pulse racing.

Much of the action in the book takes place in a claustrophobic space, so you might expect the descriptions of location to be restricted too, but nothing could be further from the truth. The characters observe the changing of the seasons on the loch, where the wildlife often reflects their moods and wishes. The oppressive nature of their prison and their appalling conditions contrasts with the small pleasures that they take when they are allowed brief freedoms outside or a change to better food. Carr chooses the most beautiful, poetic language for the highlights and appropriately stark and brutish descriptions of the privations that the prisoners suffer.

The author makes clever use of foreshadowing to create tension throughout the book, which creates tension. She weaves in each woman’s back story, illustrating their similarities and differences, whether that’s their religion, marital status, land of birth and languages spoken or simply their characters. In places, we are also told that a particular hope or ambition will be thwarted at some point in the future. I don’t think I’ve ever come across this in a book before and it is so cleverly handled that it doesn’t spoil the suspense. I was still keen to read on to find out what would happen to each of them. The Tower is recommended without reservation to lovers of historical fiction.

Sue for the TripFiction Team

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