The Plot to Kill a Queen
The Plot to Kill a Queen by Deborah Hopkinson is an adorable historical fiction novel that will captivate readers who like first person female protagonists and unique narrative styles. The narrative is set up as a drama with the chapters and sections as Acts and Scenes. The story will also periodically stop and speak to the readers offering information, thoughts, and hopes about how people will be treated in the future.
The story opens with Emilia on the run, but she stops and moves back to the Prologue and beginning of the story. Emilia is an orphan living with the Queen’s spymaster as his ward. She is a skilled lute player and a budding playwright. On her trip to see a local play, she overhears a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth. She tells Sir Francis Walsingham, which ends up placing her in the path of Mary, Queen of Scots to uncover what the threat really is and how the letters/information is being passed.
Emilia does her job well and uncovers what is taking place; however, it doesn’t end the way she expects and the title The Plot to Kill a Queen becomes a double entendre. The book ends with Hopkinson’s play that Emilia writes and enters into a royal contest. Hopkinson gives permission for this play to be used privately in classrooms, as well as with families and with friends. Hopkinson’s historical note also gives additional details about most of the characters and how that influenced her story.
One thing to note is that Emilia is a very strong female character who often vocalizes her desire for women’s rights – a right to be educated, to participate in plays, to attend plays and travel without a chaperone to name a few. She dresses up as a lad, which ultimately saves her as she tries to return to London undetected. She wants to be an author – and apparently the real character she is based on does just that with a dedication to other women. It is a noble desire to ask questions and why not as she pursues her dreams and goals.
Noteworthy quotes:
In reference to her desire to write and help women girls become educated, Emilia states “I couldn’t change all of society. But I could do something small—something with my own life. I would be like chipping away at a great stone wall with a tiny blade” (47).
“The large, powerful cat was everything about the world that kept me pinned down. It wasn’t just me, I knew. It was all women and girls. It was families who had little and toiled for others. And anyone who looked different from the wealthy nobles who ruled over everyone else” (174). This is in reference to not just Emilia’s goals for women, but there are also a few references throughout the book to how only white men were able to perform in the plays. While this is historically accurate, I think it is also important to acknowledge demographics of certain areas – the same way that in African countries there are plays made up of actors who are all of African descent. I know there were people of various ethnicities throughout Europe, nevertheless, I think it is important to remind your reader that some of the claims of the character need to be placed back within the context in which the story is set, which is 16th century England.
Overall, The Plot to Kill a Queen is a cute book that your upper elementary/tween reader might enjoy.
