Review of Blood, Fire, & Gold by Estelle Paranque

*Blood, Fire & Gold* by Estelle Paranque (2022). Published by Ebury Press.

When doing my internship hours, one of my favorite past times while cranking out social media posts or press releases is getting the chance to sit down and play an audiobook. I rarely listen to audiobooks outside of these contexts, so I think that it honestly helps me focus in a weird way.

My brain naturally does two things at once, so I get a good grasp of the audio while also getting the work done efficiently. Anyways, while exploring what kind of audiobooks are out there in the world, I ended up realizing that I had a tendency to prefer historical books on audio.

So that led me to stumbling upon Blood, Fire & Gold one day when I was endlessly scrolling for something to listen to instead of doing my work. And I checked it out immediately when I read the synopsis. I think the reign of Elizabeth I is a fascinating one in Tudor England, and she is a figure who has a lot of mythologies around her.

Putting her story in conversation with Catherine Medici is something I have not explored yet, so it seemed like a refreshing take outside of the typical Mary vs. Elizabeth conversation that ended up with the Queen of Scots beheaded (which is touched upon in this book, but people fixate on that solely a lot).

Onwards with the review!

The stories of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici in conversation with each other.

Now, considering this is a historical book and a lot of the broader content can be easily Googled or read in the book, I think providing a synopsis for this book is pretty unnecessary and defeats the purpose of picking the book up to begin with. I usually provide a synopsis for a lot of the books I read on this blog, but for this one, just read the book. Trust me, if you’re into this kind of history, you’re going to love it.

So what Paranque, who is a seasoned historian in England, does in this one is that she ends up weaving the individual tales of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici and shows how these two women, who rose to power in an era where women had limited rights and were seen as lesser (although they still kind of are today, as sad as it is to say), managed to scramble together a comprehensive legacy.

And as much as we pretend they had two completely different lives, they often intersected with each other until Catherine’s death. For the longest time, she wanted one of her sons to marry Elizabeth, but that failed.

The Virgin Queen ended up creating a completely new England and kickstarted the colonial period abroad with her interest in explorations of the New World in competition with Spain, while Catherine de Medici’s influence was undeniable.

She often exerted her thoughts and influences onto her reigning sons in France, until one of them put his foot down and told his mother no. That son ended up being assassinated the same year that Catherine de Medici died.

Anyways, these women came of age and rose in an era where there was great, remarkable change around the corner. At the same time, there was a lot of inter-continental conflict between the powers of Europe, which made their exchanges and battles with each other even more personal, especially when the topics of marriage and alliances would inevitably appear.

Religion, whether Catholic or Protestant, became a major question in France during this time and led to squabbles, and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, would create some rifts because of this (she was Catholic).

One last note for this review is that the writing for this book is also incredibly accessible. Although I listened to the audiobook, the prose came through pretty clear to me. It’s academic, but also available for a broad range of audiences outside of scholarly sources—as a graduate student myself, I find this to be a major problem with a lot of academic slanted books.

They’re writing for academics, not public information. The average person can’t understand the jargon. So I commend this book for being more quote on quote mainstream, which isn’t a bad thing at all when it comes to nonfiction.

Overall Thoughts

Analysis aside, what I think Paranque does throughout the book is absolutely brilliant. She never compares the women in a way that makes the other look bad compared to their counterpart, nor does she try to assert modern ideologies onto women who end up living in a time period much different than when I’m writing this.

She treats them with the care and respect they deserve, as historically a lot of women have been depicted in a way that is much less flattering and more critical—these conversations tend to come with a tinge of sexism as their undertone.

Anyways, pick this book up if you haven’t already—I think it’s a gem if you’re interested in royal history or this general time period.

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