The Queen's Gamble (41 page)

A READING GROUP GUIDE

THE QUEEN’S
GAMBLE

Barbara Kyle

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The suggested questions are included to
enhance your group’s reading of Barbara Kyle’s
The Queen’s Gamble.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.
Given the threat of a French invasion from Scotland, did you think Isabel was right to offer to take Queen Elizabeth’s gold to the Scottish rebels to help them fight the French? Or, instead, should she have stayed out of danger and gone home to Peru as Carlos wanted her to?

2.
Elizabeth was skeptical of Isabel’s loyalty since she was the wife of a Spanish Catholic. Did Elizabeth go too far in holding Isabel’s son as a hostage to ensure that she would fulfill her mission?

3.
When Frances was fearfully preparing to give birth, did you sympathize with her need, as a Catholic, to trust an “old-school” Catholic midwife?

4.
Once Isabel delivered the Queen’s gold to Knox and therefore could go back to London for Nicolas, she offered instead to go to the French fortress at Leith and spy for Knox. Did you think she was being brave or foolish in going into enemy territory?

5.
When Isabel arrived at Leith, ostensibly to visit Carlos, she lied to him and kept secret her mission to get information for Knox. Did you feel she was right to lie to safeguard her mission?

6.
Did you think Carlos had a right to be furious at Isabel when he learned of her involvement with the rebels? Was he justified in virtually throwing her out?

7.
Adam refused to leave the Leith garrison jail unless Carlos let him bring his dying crewman, but Carlos knew the burden would endanger them all so he killed the crewman. Did you feel Carlos was justified in this act of murder?

8.
When Isabel realized that Grenville was plotting to rise up against the Queen, she needed proof, so she stayed in his house to find out more about his plot. Did you think she was doing what was necessary, or was she taking too great a risk?

9.
How did you feel about Carlos’s brief infidelity with Fenella? Should he have confessed it to Isabel, or do you sympathize with him silently putting it behind him?

10.
Condemned to hang, Isabel rejoiced at hearing of Carlos’s plan to rescue her, but then realized that if he tried, he and her brother and father would likely be killed, so she made an agonized decision and refused to be rescued. How did you feel about Isabel’s choice?

11.
In Tudor England, Catholics and Protestants both felt justified in their religious zeal. How does this compare with the religious tensions in our own time?

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Copyright © 2011 by Barbara Kyle

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ISBN: 978-0-7582-7445-8