<i>When Women Ruled the World</i> tells the history of 16th-century Europe, when Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and Catherine de Medici ruled England, Scotland, and France. To me, the British queens were more heavily focused on, and Catherine de Medici was occasionally brought into the story as she interacted with the three other women, before finally, her life was summed up at the end. The title seems a bit of a misnomer since the majority of the book speaks of Britain, extending at times to Europe but certainly not the world.

It was intriguing to see how the women ruled, and they worked more toward peace and religious freedom than the men in their time. The book talks about the gifts they gave each other and the significance of each gift. Suzanne Toren did a nice job narrating the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Format: audiobook
Author: Maureen Quilligan ~ Title: When Women Ruled the World ~ Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

A deep dive into the world of four sixteenth-century women: Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Catherine de Medici. This audiobook has four parts: The Tudors, The Stuarts, The Medici, and The Hapsburgs.

When Women Ruled the World is a very well-researched work. I read before about the Tudors. But here I learned some details that I didn’t know before. As stated above, this is a deep dive into this world, and therefore not so much a lightweight read. But it will be rewarding for scholars and those who are very interested in the subject and the time of the Renaissance.

I liked the narration by Suzanne Toren. Her voice perfect to narrate the story of powerful women.

Thanks to HighBridge Audio for the ARC and the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

Good satisfying read which took me back to my high school days. Makes me want to learn more about Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart, Elizabeth the 1st, Catherine de Medici and the Queen Margot. The audio version is pleasant but since the book is sprinkled with so much info, I would have enjoyed a hard copy better.

Thank you for the audio ARC in exchange for my opinion.

I don’t know why pop culture dramatizes an already dramatic history.

These four women,Mary Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor, Mary Stuart and Catherine de Medici, lived incredible lives.

I didn’t realize just how entwined they all were. I appreciated the author’s notice of ‘womanly’ interactions that have often gone unattended by other historians.

Never dry!